


Last of the American Girls

by WastelandMama



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-05-27 15:02:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 46,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15027197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WastelandMama/pseuds/WastelandMama
Summary: It's been a year since the fall of the Institute. A year in which Hancock has pined away in Goodneighbor for his beloved Sunshine. Nora's spent a year in secluded retirement at Sanctuary, but now a new problem in Far Harbor calls the former general back to arms. The dynamic duo, plus Pumpkin, are back in action going up against a mysterious enemy in the fog and a prophecy that speaks of the second coming of Atom.





	1. A Sign

"Hey, Hancock."

  
How many times? How many times had she breezed through his door calling his name in that husky voice of hers? Too many to count. Every time he ran after her like a puppy, and every time it had hurt a little more being set aside. He knew he should be grateful. Being best friends with the ‘savior of the Commonwealth’, as Piper had rightfully dubbed her, was something to cherish, especially in the Wasteland where friends were few and far between to begin with.  


When you wanted, needed, something more it was agony though. He knew it was foolish to carry this secret torch. Women like her wouldn't have considered a man like him for anything more than a roll in the hay even when he'd been a smoothskin, and he wanted more than that with her. Far, far more than he had a right to.   


"Hey, Hancock?"   


There was a trace of amusement in her voice now. He finally opened his eyes and managed to turn his head towards the door. This new ultrajet Fred had concocted was actually able to kick his ass, at least for a half hour or so, and he'd just taken his first hit of the day before the door had opened.   


When he finally got his eyes to focus on the person standing, hand on hip and that cowboy hat on, he was pretty sure he was hallucinating. Because there was no fucking way Nora was just standing there naked in the moonlight. No. Fucking. Way.   


"Hey, Emperor. Love the outfit.", Hancock inwardly winced. This ultrajet was making him an idiot if that was the best he could come up with.   


Nora smiled anyway, like it was the slickest line he'd ever said. Her dark brown eyes looked almost black as she glided over and settled in his lap.   


Well, that was new.   


"What's going on, Sunshine? You sufferin' from a head injury?" Nora was always so careful about personal space. Always respectful, always kept her hands to herself. Just friendly hugs from her were rare enough to be treasured. This level of contact was something she had never seemed capable of after she became a widow. Hancock had listened, outwardly sympathetic and quietly bleeding out from a wound in his soul, as she'd told him the beautiful, idyllic love story of her and Nate, high school sweethearts and soulmates. Having to listen to what she'd had torn away...well, that had been the first time his heart had broken for her. Hancock knew he could never give her even half of that, so he'd kept his true feelings quiet and tried to tell himself he was happy with friendship. If it was all she could give, he would take it.   


It was fine that she would never know how he felt, really. How every little thing she did or said or thought made him love her more. How hard it had been seeing her in that ridiculous Silver Shroud outfit, Piper by her side as the perfect sidekick, valiantly helping Kent and pretend like he didn't want to kiss the daylights out of her. How hard it had been to breathe normally, act casual, when she'd tearfully apologized to him after the whole Bobbi incident, those huge eyes so appealing and guileless. It was embarrassing how bad he had it, to be honest. Traveling with her had been an exercise in sweet, sweet torture and he'd been grateful more than once that she couldn't tell when he was blushing...and that his flag covered certain things that would've more than betrayed his interest.   


Yet, here she was, naked in his lap. He tried to keep his hands off her. He really did. But she was so soft and smooth and cool and smiling that smile like he was the only man in the world. He wanted more, as always, but settled for placing his hands on her hips while she snuggled into him.   


"John, fuck me." Nora whispered in his ear, those nimble fingers going to his shirt buttons.   


Yeah, this was definitely a hallucination. Had to be. His Nora, the real one, never used language like that. It wasn't ladylike. She was adorably scandalized by children uttering ‘bad words’, as she called them and never failed to frown a bit when her friends used them. She'd said her father had always told her, 'Bad words are for people too stupid to think up an alternative' and while she didn't think that was true anymore, it was still hard to let go of the idea.   


He had to admit though, it sounded fucking delicious coming from her lips. He was going to have to send Fred some kind of thank you present.   


"Whatever the lady wishes," he purred. That was better. His mind was starting to catch up a little. He gasped when he felt her hand wrap around him. When the hell had his pants come off? Had he been naked the whole time? Did he care?   


He kissed her deeply as she guided him into her (shit, she was wet and hot and more than ready), trying to put his whole heart into it so she'd know this was more than just another State House tour for him. He slid into her like she'd been made for him and her happy sigh had his fingers digging deeper into her hips. She'd have little fingertip bruises by morning and a part of him was fiercely glad to know she'd wear them. He wanted to hold back, wanted to go slow. How many times had he dreamed of this moment? Their first time? He'd practically made a career out of having sex, but he'd never made love before. Hancock wanted to make it as special as he could. Candlelight and flowers and soft kisses and all the things Daisy had told him pre-war ‘nice girls’ had liked. He'd spent countless hours daydreaming about how he'd push her past that polite outer shell she wore everywhere. How he would wait until she was begging and panting for him. He'd had plans, dammit.   


Nora wasn't letting that happen though. She rode him harder and harder, gasping for breath and grinding against him. When he went in for another kiss she bit him and growled. He growled back, pulled a fistful of her hair and set his teeth into her neck. This was fine. Great, even. If this was what she wanted, who was he to say no?   


It was all too soon when he felt her start to pulse around his cock. She was shivering and whispering wonderfully obscene things in his ear and he wanted the moment to last forever. But then she started begging him to come inside her and it was all over. He slammed into her over and over, fucking her as hard as he was able until she was arching against him, that glorious golden skin flushing pink, head thrown back and a look of perfect ecstasy on her face. She was coming undone right in front of him and god dammit if it wasn't the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He came hard and struggled to get his breathing under control as she milked him, her walls pulsing as she whimpered his name.   


"Damn, Sunshine. I missed you, too." He leaned back and opened his eyes to her smiling face.   


Her eyes were wrong.   


"Sunshine?" There was something approaching terror there. Her eyes weren't just dark in the moonlight, they were black through and through, darker even than his own. He watched, horrified, as her mouth opened in a silent scream and from the point where they were still joined, a line of fire rose up within her. "Sunshine! Nora! No!" He grabbed her face in his hands. He didn't know what to do as the fire spread through her belly and into her rib cage. He could see the outline of every bone, every vein. Rot was spreading from the love bite on her neck. She was being burned from within. He had done this. He didn't know how he'd done this, but it was his fault and he was powerless to stop it. He was sobbing as she crumbled into his hands, pieces of her falling to the floor in cinders, his lap full of ash. The last thing left was her face. That precious, beautiful face. It smiled at him for a moment and then was gone. She was gone. She was gone and it was his fault. His fault. His fault...   


Hancock began screaming. Somewhere outside his panic, he heard a door slam open, heard yelling, then, suddenly, it stopped. Everything stopped.   


Everything was...wet?   


He blinked to clear his vision and saw Fahrenheit holding a bucket. Ah, that would explain the wet.   


"Shit, Hancock. What the hell? I thought you were going feral for a minute." She set the bucket down, genuine concern flitting across her face before being hidden deep under irritation.   


Hancock scowled at her, then scowled harder at the inhaler still in his hand. He threw it across the room. "Tell Fred this new batch is no fucking good. Toss it all." He sat back with his eyes closed, focusing on the water droplets running down his face to bring him back to reality. People always assumed that, because of the ghoulification process, they felt less than smoothskins did. The opposite was actually true. Ghouls nerve endings were closer to the surface, more exposed. He was pretty sure it was part of what drove some ghouls feral, but for him, focusing on the sensory input had always been a way to get grounded, to remember he did actually exist on the physical plane.   


She was quiet for a minute. Hancock heard the floor creak beneath her feet as she shifted her weight. She was anxious. She never could resist shifting around when she was anxious. He'd told her to work on that a million times. "Bad trip?"   


"Yeah, bad trip."   


Another creak, she'd shifted back. "You wanna talk about it?" Ah, that was it. She thought he was going to want to have a heart-to-heart. Fahr and emotions went together about as well as...well, gasoline and a match. He chuckled a little. Of course, who wanted to have emotional talks with their father about wet dreams gone bad anyway?   


"Fuck no."   


"...because it sounded like you were dying in here and you kept saying a certain vaultie's name." He opened one eye just enough to glare at her. She gave him that stubborn look. The look she'd got from him. Looking at her was like looking in a mirror of who he'd once been, only smarter, fiercer, better than that man had ever dreamed of being. His daughter was him made over and he was eternally proud to have sired her.   


Except for in these small moments where she turned his own traits against him.   


"It was a bad trip, Fahr. Nothing more. I don't even remember any of it." His hands were shaking so he pulled out his cigarettes to give them something useful to do. He was lying, badly, to the one person who knew all his tells. He hoped she'd read just how very much he did not want to talk about what he'd seen.   


She watched him take a long drag, eyes narrowed. Finally, she shrugged. The subject was dropped. "Okay, well, if you're done being an asshole for now, the mail came. Everyone got a letter from Nora, you included. You want it or do you want me to put it with the other correspondence?"   


He silently held out his hand for the letter. Fahr smirked, which was as close as she ever came to smiling. "You know, it's been a while since you've seen her. Over a year at least? Why not go visit Sanctuary? It'll be hot as balls on the walk over, but she told me in her last letter that Curie and Sturges had gotten some kind of air cooling contraption going for the kids and old people there. And you're old."   


Hancock glared at her, cigarette dangling from his lips, almost forgotten now that he had a letter to focus on. "Har-dee-fucking-har-har. If you're finished harassing your Mayor, you can go."   


She rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, I'm going. Take a bath or something, will ya? Smells like old man farts in here." Fahr started for the door.   


He threw his hat at her but it bounced off the closed door. Hancock listened to the rare sound of her laughter as it followed her down the stairs. She was lucky she was fast.   


He looked at the envelope. The careful, artful script. He could imagine Nora at her tidy desk in Sanctuary, writing letter after letter to all her beloved friends. Since the fall of the Institute, everyone had been busy busy busy, and no one had been quite as busy as she had.   


He'd held her hand as she cried over her boy, watching the explosion from the safety of that skyscraper. Everyone else had been cheering. The great Commonwealth Boogeyman, finally defeated. No one knew that, prior to its destruction, Nora had quietly, and far too mercifully in his opinion, shot her son in the head. Nobody knew but him. He'd been with her while Shaun had eviscerated her. Wounding her heart in a way that could never be healed. Telling her he hated her, hated waking her, hated not just letting her stay in that frozen sleep.   


Anyone else would have shot the bastard just to shut him up, but not Nora. He'd watched as she'd cried and kissed him and told him she would always love him. Watched as she tucked his blanket up around him. Watched as she turned like she was leaving and then, quick as lightning, she'd shot him in the head. The old man had never seen it coming.   


He'd caught her as she'd crumbled on the floor, sobbing. She'd held onto him so tight and whispered that she'd had to do it. That it was her responsibility. She'd brought him into the world and she had to take him out. That she still loved him, some part of him was still her baby and couldn't just leave her baby to wait fearfully for death. The words poured out and he felt his heart break for her all over again as he rocked her and whispered meaningless words of comfort in her ear.   


She'd asked him if he thought God would ever forgive her. He was pretty sure if there was a God, He wouldn't have put someone like her in this kind of fucked up position in the first place.   


Nora had sacrificed everything for the Commonwealth, including a piece of her own soul. She was different after, of course. Couldn't meet his eyes and their easy camaraderie had vanished in the ashes of the Institute. He had been powerless to pull his beloved Sunshine out of her eclipse, no matter how many bad jokes and innuendo he'd thrown at her. He'd kept trying to get her to talk about it. Hancock had read somewhere that talking helped with trauma, but Nora could barely get two words out to him, let alone vocalize the grief that was swallowing her whole.   


When she'd said she was retiring from both the Minutemen and the Railroad and going home to Sanctuary, that Curie, Cait and Mac were going with her, he'd accepted the not-so-subtle dismissal for what it was. He knew she still cared, still wanted to consider him her best friend, but he was too intertwined in what was the worst moment of her life to be near him for a while. He'd bowed gallantly over her hand, daring to lightly brush his lips against it, attempted his most cavalier smile and told her she knew where to find him. She'd kept her eyes on the ground, nodded and slipped away, Cait had taken Curie’s hand, the both of them following close behind looking confused and concerned, Mac murmuring he'd watch her back for him as they left, taking his heart with them.   


She went home and so did he. Life went on. They eventually exchanged weekly letters. His mildly scandalous (he enjoyed the thought of making her blush from miles away) updates about the characters in his life and hers detailed updates about her synth son, their mutual friends who'd decided to make Sanctuary their home, and such riveting topics as the weather and Codsworth's developing sewing skills. Sometimes she sent recipes of modified pre-war dishes that she'd managed to recreate using modern ingredients, since she knew cooking was a hobby of his.   


Shaun had managed to get a camera working and Piper had raided the old Boston Globe building for photo developing chemicals a few months before Christmas, so now her letters sometimes also included snapshots of her life. The bunker she'd built for herself (well, really Strong, Ada, Sturges and some others had built, but she'd designed it from the ground up and he had loved how proud she was of it). Dogmeat being his regular goofy self. Shaun playing happily with Duncan and Piper's little sister, Nat. MacCready teaching new settlers how to shoot. A picture of the party for the first ever Detonation Day celebration. Blurry shots of Deacon when he visited; never failing to try to dart out of the photo at the last possible second. Never pictures of her since she was always behind the camera, but pictures of what was most important to her. He knew she was trying hard to keep their bond intact. This was her way of sharing her life with him, and he carefully kept each photo in an old cigar box hidden in his desk.   


It had been over a year since he'd actually seen her, if Fahr was to be believed. Time became a slippery thing once you turned ghoul. A year where nothing had changed on his end. He was still besotted with the woman who'd walked into Goodneighbor and turned his whole world on its head. Only problem was, he wasn't sure that woman existed anymore. Her letters were wonderful and cherished, but they were impersonal and carried none of the warmth he associated with her. He'd seen a few she'd sent Daisy. Daisy didn't feel the same selfishness towards all things Nora that Hancock did and shared more easily. The letters she got were more casual and friendly in tone than his ever were, and that stung. Maybe time wasn't going to fix this. Maybe it just couldn't be fixed.   


He could feel a photo in this letter. It stopped him from crumbling the envelope in his hand. Waiting wasn't getting him anywhere. He needed to act. He was John fucking Hancock, and sitting on his ass waiting wasn't his style. He wanted his friend back. He was tired of this bullshit.   


Hancock angrily snuffed out his cigarette and tore open the letter, a little too pissed at the idea of another polite exchange when he wanted more, wanted at least what he'd had before that last day. Goddamn he wanted to fight somebody. Anybody. Where was a super mutant raid when you needed one?   


He pulled the photo out and stopped. The world stopped.   


Finally, a photo of Nora.   


She was seated, hands folded demurely in her lap, her usual gentle, patient smile on her face. Radiating that quiet, confident strength he'd always admired. He'd never met an actual lady before her and all her little odd habits and quirks that had been ingrained by another time and another set of rules never failed to make his heart swell.   


Something about a person so lethal but still so prim and proper just did something to him. Made him think seriously impure thoughts at the most ridiculous of times. Confusing, conflicting thoughts, actually. He wanted to get her dirty, real dirty, but also somehow protect that glossy perfection? How exactly was that supposed to work?   


Like when he'd watched her go from tearfully happy at the reunion of the Peabody family, graciously accepting their thanks and waving away their attempts to pay her, to incensed at those fool Gunners who thought they could actually get through her to get to them. She'd turned on a dime from pleasant pre-war housewife to homicidal wasteland maniac.   


He'd almost felt bad for those assholes. Of course, that didn't stop him from howling with laughter as he joined the slaughter and they blew them away. When he'd turned back to see her, covered in blood that wasn't her own and grinning back at him with that thousand watt smile...well, if the kid hadn't been there watching from the upstairs window with wide eyes. he probably would have made a move there and then.   


Hancock was used to seeing her armored up, usually strapped to the gills with more weapons than any one human could possibly need. This Nora was wearing a pre-war dress and sensible flats (ankles crossed, of course). Her figure had filled back out to what he assumed had to be it's pre-war glory and wasn't that just fucking delicious? She'd done something with her hair, too. Cut it, maybe? He'd always seen it in a bun or braided for sleeping, but now it floated around her shoulders in loose curls. The photo was black and white, as they all were, but he could close his eyes and imagine the way the light would shine off it, golden like the sun and soft as silk. Her brown doe eyes were dark as ever but she seemed...happy? Content, anyway. Certainly better than the last time he'd seen her.   


He'd stared at it for an embarrassingly long amount of time before he realized there were actually other people in the picture. Shaun was standing at his mother's side. He looked happy and Hancock was happy for him. Must be something having a mother like Nora. He still wasn't completely sure the kid wasn't some kind of fucked up long game revenge for the Institute or something, but from what he'd heard, he was just like any other ten (no, eleven now) year old, except the natural brilliance, of course. Plus, most wasteland kids didn't have the benefit of having an educated mother. Kid was definitely going to grow up to be somebody...if he could grow up, anyway.   


Codsworth and Dogmeat were there, too. The robot in the background behind Nora's chair and the dog pressed against her legs.   


Her family. It was a family portrait. She'd taken it just for him and wasn't that just something.   


Was this the sign he'd been waiting for? Every photo she'd ever sent, he'd stared at, again and again, hoping to see some hint that she wanted him back in her life full time. Like the old days. A picture of her and those most precious to her...that had to mean something, right? He scanned her letter, but it was the typically banal stuff, something about a situation in Far Harbor that the Minutemen were dealing with and Curie blowing up things while attempting to make snocones...what the fuck was a snocone?

Hancock shook his head. He was letting himself get distracted.   


He slid the picture back into the envelope. He was keeping this one close; it was too good for the box. There was a pocket in his coat that was just perfect for it. Right by his heart, and that definitely felt like a sign.


	2. Whiskey Dream

Contrary to popular belief, Hancock was actually a man of great self-reflection. He knew exactly who he was, and what he was about. He knew he tended to make giant, fat mistakes whenever he let his emotions make decisions on his behalf. With that in mind, he decided, instead of running to Sanctuary like his heart and parts south wanted, he would think things over. Kick the idea around for a day, sleep on it, and then act on his instincts.

Course, you couldn't properly kick an idea around without the proper lubrication. Lucky for him, he had an near endless supply of whiskey at the ready. Hancock adjusted his hat to it's regular jaunty angle and made his way down into the cool, comforting darkness that was the Third Rail.

By the bottom of the first bottle, he was feeling pretty confident that picture had been some kind of subtle hint from Nora that she wanted in his pants...like ladies tossing handkerchiefs in front of knights back in her time...no, wait, too far. Back before her time. Yeah.

By the bottom of the second, his brain was so lubricated it was practically floating and he was torn between marching straight to Sanctuary to propose dramatically to Nora or marching straight to Sanctuary and fighting any man who'd dared look at her for the past year, but by God, he was going to Sanctuary, goddammit.

By the bottom of the third, Fahrenheit had found him in the VIP room. She looked taller than she normally did, which is when he realized he was actually sitting on the floor and not the couch. That was...well, fuck it. The floor was cooler, anyway. He smiled at her like he totally meant to be sitting on the dirty, damp floor and was rewarded with...what was that? Some kind of smirk. Like she knew something. She didn't know nothin'.

"Hey, boss. Guess. What." She was practically gleeful. What a terrifying thing to see.

"What's up, little sister?" Ha! His speech wasn't slurred...much. Take that, whiskey!

Fahr's eyes were sparkling. Whatever the hell was going on, she was enjoying it way too much. "Got a surprise for you. In the State House."

Hancock frowned. He wasn't entirely sure he could get back on the couch, let alone up all those damn stairs. He wasn't about to admit that to little Miss Sassypants though. No. She knew he hated surprises. Probably some hopped up jet head looking to trade action for chems. He didn't have a taste for that shit anymore. Hadn't in a long time. Fuck...

"...that. Fuck it, Fahr. I don't like surprises. Whatever, whoever it is, kick 'em out." He gave her his best and most intimidating scowl.

It did not work. Now she was actually laughing at him. Trying to hide it behind her hand, like she just couldn't help herself. What the hell? He was the mayor of Goodneighbor, dammit, he didn't deserve this kind of disrespect.

"Alright, fine. Have it your way.", she turned away and left him to his own devices, snorting she was laughing so fucking hard. That was just...he should have spanked her when she was little; he'd missed his shot there. Now she'd just kill him if he tried. Some cheek on that girl. What a way to treat your father.

Finally, close to the bottom of the fourth, Hancock felt sweet oblivion slide over him. His last conscious thoughts were of Nora, of course.

...and that no one had better fuck with his hat while he was passed out.

The first thought he had after regaining consciousness was that someone had absolutely fucked off with his hat. The top of his head was cool. He grunted and tried to open his eyes but someone, probably the same someone who'd made off with his hat, had put a damp washcloth over them.

Well, that was...thoughtful. Weird. Decidedly not Fahrenheit-ish. She cared, of course, but believed wholeheartedly that he should fully suffer whatever consequences he earned after indulging. Maybe Daisy had taken pity on him, bless her. She was a doll. Wherever he was, it didn't smell like the Third Rail. Fahr must have had the boys bring him back upstairs after he passed out. The thought relaxed him a bit. Meant his hat was probably safe in her hands. He really should just give her the damn thing anyway. She was a better leader than he'd ever been. His pride and...well, not joy. His pride and pain in the ass, most days.

The mattress under him dipped. There was the warm weight of another body and he felt cool water being carefully poured over his washcloth. Whoever was doing it knew ghouls; knew to go slow so his nerves didn't get overwhelmed while the asshole gremlins that had taken up residence behind his eyes tried to work their way out. Had to be Daisy.

"Thanks, Dais. You've always been my favorite." His voice was raspier than usual and his mouth tasted like shit. It had been a while since he'd been hungover. His ghoul metabolism tended to burn everything off too quick. He wondered if he could sweet talk her into getting him a mentat or a cup of coffee. Something. Anything. Water, even. He just wanted to get the last of the liquor out of his system as soon as possible. He put his hand up to catch her wrist.

It was smooth. Impossibly smooth and finely boned.

Not Daisy.

He brought up his other hand to peel the washcloth back. A smiling ray of sunshine filled his vision.

"Hey, Hancock.", Nora was giving him that soft smile, eyes sparkling. Amused but not judging. She'd never judged him. That was a big part of what made her so great. Her hair caught the candlelight behind her and lit up like a halo around her face. She had a can of purified water in the hand he'd caught, the other bracing herself as she leaned over him. "Long time, no see, stranger." She spoke softly, barely above a whisper, so considerate of his inevitable headache. He wondered if she were around more, whether or not some of her good manners and grace could rub off on Fahrenheit...probably not.

His eyes devoured her face. He'd somehow forgotten about her freckles and the little flecks of gold in her brown eyes that matched her hair. The way her eyes crinkled up a bit when she smiled, that dimple suckerpunching him right in the heart. God, he'd missed her.

Then he realized how impossible this situation was. Ah, fuck. Not this again. Not another dream. He wasn't sure he could take it. He was in his bed with Nora six inches from his face playing nursemaid, everything about her soft as velvet and smelling sweet as pie? A veritable sensory delight just for him? No. He wasn't falling for this shit again.

He frowned and let the washcloth fall back over his eyes, abruptly releasing her wrist, resolute in ignoring this vision and cursing his own brain...and Fred Allen. Whatever that junk had done to him, it should have been out of his system by now, surely. If he had permanent brain damage from this shit, he was gonna be extra special spicy pissed.

She leaned back, he felt her twist a bit on the bed. Jeez, his brain was really good at making this crap up. He should try painting or something.

"Fahr, what's wrong with him?"

Fahr's voice, entirely too full of mirth for his liking, came from over by the door. "Nothing that a good kick in the ass wouldn't fix." She was still chortling quietly. Hancock was pretty sure that he'd never heard her laugh so much before. It would have been kinda nice if it hadn't been infuriating.

Nora's voice held the tiniest bit of reprimand in it. "Fahr...that's...", she paused and Hancock felt the mattress shake a bit; started to realize she was trying to not join in on the laughter. Rude. After all the time he spent putting her on a pedestal, and here she was, or some ghost of her anyway, laughing at him with his disrespectful asshole of a daughter. Unbelievable.

Nora cleared her throat a bit. "How long has he been like this?"

Fahr had finally managed to calm down. Some. "Oh, just since this morning. He had a bad trip. New ultrajet. You know how it goes."

"Hmm. I see."

Hancock felt her get up and tensed briefly. He didn't know what his junkie brain was going to throw at him next and braced himself mentally, trying to be ready for anything. He heard her walk across the room, heard the floor under Fahr creak. She was anxious again?

"You aren't...you aren't leaving, are you?", the Fahr that spoke sounded a lot younger than what he was used to. A lot like the one who'd stumbled through the gate years ago, motherless and looking for her deadbeat dad.  
Nora's voice was quiet, thoughtful. He almost didn't catch her response as he slid back down into unconsciousness.

"No, Meghan. I won't leave."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that's right. Fahr has a proper name. No mother is naming her baby Fahrenheit. Come on.


	3. Endangered Species

When Hancock woke the next morning, he promised himself to never, ever again drink...at least not that much. Most of the pounding in his head was subdued, his eyes were fuzzy and his mouth felt like he'd used it to clean up the streets of Goodneighbor with his tongue, but someone had brewed coffee and it called him like a siren. He pushed himself upright and headed for the shower, ignoring the aches and pains in his joints. He was probably getting a little too old to go passing out on the floor of any bar, even if it was in the VIP room. The water was lukewarm at best, and mildly irradiated, but that was all the better as far as he, and the ghoul majority of Goodneighbor, was concerned. It melted away the residual fuzziness of the night and washed it down the drain.   


By the time he got out, he felt better. Settled. A cup of coffee and a few mentats and he was like a new man. Ready to make the trek to Sanctuary. His mind was clear and his swagger was back. He was ready to make it or break it with his dream girl.   


He paused and frowned thoughtfully as he finished buttoning his shirt, rolling the grapey goodness of a mentat around in his mouth. Dreamgirl. Huh. There was something to that. Something that was sliding away from him, despite the caffeine and pharmaceuticals. Had he dreamt of Nora again? It wouldn't surprise him. She filled most of his thoughts while he was awake, why shouldn't she rule his subconscious, too?   


All he had to do was grab some shotgun shells from KL-E-0, give Fahr a heads up and he could bounce outta here. He hit the street and sauntered over towards the gate.   


"Hey, Hancock. Nice to see you have some pep back in your step." a voice as familiar to him as his own called out.   


He froze. No fucking way.   


Hancock pivoted slowly and there she was, dusting off her pants, just getting up from a bench like she'd been waiting for him. He must have blown right past her. How the hell was that possible?   


Of course, he'd never seen her quite like this. She had on a sleeveless shirt, jeans with boots and the largest, most ridiculous hat he'd ever seen...and that was saying something. It had a huge brim and a bow that matched her shirt and it looked like it had been woven from dried razorgrain. He'd bet serious caps the whole thing was outfitted with ballistic weave, but leaving her arms exposed like that didn't sit well with him. All that creamy skin just asking to get roughed up. She had a pack on that looked loads lighter than what she used to carry, and her favorite plasma rifle, of course.   


His eyes finally rested on her face and she put her hands in her pockets, gave him a crooked smile and a shrug as if to say ‘well?’.   


It was really her. His Nora. In the flesh.   


Later, when he obsessively replayed the moment in his head, he would never be certain who moved first. One second they were staring at each other with shy smiles and the next he was hugging her, spinning her just like he used to after every big victory, grinning like a fool while she giggled at him. He'd never felt more relieved in his life. It was still there. Whatever it was they'd always had between them, that undeniable connection, it was still there. If he didn't have a reputation to maintain in his town, he'd have cried.   


He stopped spinning and nuzzled his face into her neck, breathing her in. She still smelled like wildflowers and freedom to him. If it hadn't been for the damn dog growling at him, he would have happily stayed with her in his arms forever, quietly reveling in the fact that she was holding him just as tightly as he was holding her.   


Maybe she'd actually missed him, too.   


The dog, however, was not as pleased as her owner.   


"Pumpkin, down, girl. This is Hancock. He's our very good friend.", Nora held out a hand towards the strangest dog (dog?) he had ever seen. It had white, sort of patchy fur and glowing green skin beneath. Around its neck was a blue ribbon that matched the one on Nora's hat. Of course. Of course it did.   


Nora would put a bow on a deathclaw if you gave her a chance.   


Pumpkin, as it was apparently called, abruptly stopped growling at him at least. She cautiously sniffed at the closed fist he held out, then laid back down by the bench, all interest in him forgotten.   


Relieved to not be mistaken for a chew toy, Hancock's eyes came back to Nora. She was looking up at him, studying his face and absentmindedly chewing her lower lip like she did when she was puzzling something out. He still had a hand on her waist and her hands were on his chest now like she was checking his heartbeat and he really, really wished he knew what she was thinking just then. The awkwardness was definitely gone, at least, but there was something new now. He couldn't quite put his finger on it...this was clearly a more-than-two mentats situation.   


Whatever she was looking for, she seemingly found it and smiled at him, "You look good, Hancock. Better than last night, anyway."   


Shit. Dreamgirl. Nursemaid Nora. It hadn't been a hallucination.   


He knew that coffee had been too good to be Fahr's.   


"You know how it goes, sister. Gotta maintain my rep as mayor and all that."   


Nora chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure it's quite the hassle." She took a step back and adjusted her hat. He let his hand fall away from her. It cost him, but he managed it. "Want to walk a lady to Diamond City? It's a bit more ghoul-friendly since Geneva became mayor."   


He pretended reluctance. "Well, now, I dunno. Got a pretty busy day all planned out. Lots of hands to shake, babies to kiss...why do you even wanna go to Diamond Shitty anyway? Goodneighbor has all you could ever want right here."   


She blinked at him. Was that...was she blushing? No, probably just hot. He hadn't even said anything scandalous...yet.   


"I, uh...I'm picking up Nick, Hancock. Didn't you get my letter?"   


He frowned a bit. "I got the one with the picture of you and the kid. He's gonna be good lookin' when he grows up, probably gets it from his mama." Hancock winked at her and she rolled her eyes. There. That was better. That was them.   


"I sent that letter ages ago! You should have gotten another one by now. I really do miss the US postal service sometimes." A regretful sigh. "There's a problem in Far Harbor. Dalton Farm has gone quiet and the islanders are all too superstitious to go investigate. Preston sent a small battalion out there but they never came back. The provisioners who are supposed to make that route won't even get near it now. They say the fog is back but it's different somehow? So I volunteered to go since I know the area and...well, I'm retired and all but I still started that community. Those are my people."   


Nora was practically radiating concern and...something...wariness, maybe? Damn mentats were already wearing off. He knew she'd had quite an experience in Far Harbor before and hadn't been back since. Nicky and her had solved some case up there that had started as a simple distraction while she waited for the Minutemen to get the Molecular Array completed and had ended up being a three month long exercise in pine-scented terror, the way Valentine told it. Hancock didn't like seeing her so shook up and he definitely didn't like the idea of her going back to that place.   


"I'm headed to Diamond City to see if Nick wants to come with me. If he can't, then I'll head for the Nakano's harbor with Pumpkin here and pick up Longfellow up north. She's one of the puppies I adopted while we were up there and he's always up for dealing with the island's shenanigans." She smiled a little at the memory of traveling with the quarrelsome old man.   


Nope, Hancock didn't like this. Not even a little bit. A whole battalion of Minutemen couldn't handle...whatever was happening up there, and now Nora was just going to go by herself? With some dog? And  _ maybe _ Nick? No. Not happening.   


"You don't have to pick up Nicky. I'll go." The words were out of his mouth before he'd even finished thinking about it.   


The smile vanished. "Oh, oh, no. No, I couldn't ask that. You have responsibilities here and I just dropped by on the way to stock up and you know...", Nora hadn't just paled at his suggestion, she looked like she was going to be sick. Now she wasn't meeting his eyes and kept moving backward in tiny increments. Pumpkin had noticed the shift in her mistress's attitude and had her head up, surveying for a threat.   


What the hell? What was happening? How had the mood shifted so suddenly? Was she okay with him just in small doses now? Everything had been great between them until he'd wanted to join her.   


Hancock caught her arm before she got any further away from him and he saw her other hand twitch just a bit like she instinctively wanted to draw on him. He tried to ignore how she froze like a panicked radstag and carefully stepped closer to her. She still wouldn't look directly at him, and the top of that damn hat was all he could see, but at least she had to see his boots and feel the warmth of his hand. It wasn't much, but it was something.   


He took a deep breath and carefully considered his words, wishing he had a handful of mentats in his pocket. He needed to not blow this moment. If he let her go, with whatever this fucked up thing was standing between them, he might never see her again at this point. He couldn't let that happen.   


"Nora...look, I know it's been a while, but you gotta know, I thought about you every damn day. I fought with myself every day to not go busting into Sanctuary. You needed time, and I got that. Hell, we all gotta run from shit sometime, sister." She'd started to relax in his grip and he slid his hand down until he was holding hers. He tried to be as gentle and nonthreatening as possible. Tried to keep the seductive purr out of his voice and just sound like any other friend, but he knew it was slipping past.  Hancock waited until her head came back up and she looked at him. She looked unbelievably weary and sad and...there it was. She was afraid. Afraid of him? That wasn't right, but the fear was there. Something had her spooked hard. It made him want to sling her over his shoulder and carry her into the State House where he knew she'd be safe. He knew she'd never allow it, that he'd probably get hit with that mean left hook Cait had taught her before he even had her off her feet, but it didn't stop him from wanting to do it.   


He settled for tightening his hand around hers.   


"I can't stop you from running off to Far Harbor or wherever you gotta go, but you can't stop me from following you, either, and I will. I already did my time in purgatory. A year was enough. I'm not letting you out of my sight again. I can't...Nora, I just can't do it."   


He hadn't meant for that edge of pain to show up at the end there, but he was a little glad it had. Her eyes had softened at that point and he knew he'd won this round. He just had to let her acknowledge it on her own was all.   


She frowned, thoughtful, then nodded. Her shoulders relaxed and her hand briefly squeezed his before he let it go. "Okay, Hancock. Okay. I'm...I'm sorry I ran from...", Nora stared into the distance and chewed her lip a little. "I'm sorry." She sighed and conceded the field. "You...still want to travel with me?"   


He smiled. "You even have to ask?"


	4. Bellgrove Square

They'd left quickly after that. Hancock hadn't wanted to wait and give her time to change her mind. If he didn't know better, he'd say his dear constituents were glad to be rid of their mayor, the way they'd clapped and hooted at his send off. He'd laughed and waved and paused to give Fahr the finger, which she returned. It was as close as they ever came to saying "I love you, be careful out there" to each other. Nora had shared some shady look with Daisy, nodded to Fahr and followed close behind him out the gate with her wolf (turned out it was a purebred glowing wolf, ha) trotting by her side.   


He'd started on the route to Diamond City and was surprised when Nora took his hand at an intersection and led him down a different street entirely. The ancient street sign said Bellgrove Square. Hancock was a little too happy about the feel of her hand in his and the nostalgic sense of good times and open roads to care where they were going. He didn't even ask. If she lead him straight into the gates of hell, that was fine with him, so long as they were together.   


As it turned out, she'd led him someplace way better, as she always had.   


Nora stopped in front of a respectable brownstone. The wrought-iron fence was still mostly intact and he noticed the lock looked new...newish, maybe? Definitely recently used. She pulled out her ridiculous keyring, found the right one, and opened the gate. Ah. Well, that explained that.   


The sun was directly overhead by this point. Hancock felt like a furnace and Nora's shoulders, for all her hat's impressive shade, had started to turn pink. He wasn't sure if he liked that or not. Nora all pink was definitely a pleasant thought. Nora sunburned, though, was not. He inwardly sighed. He'd forgotten how much his brain and his dick fought when she was around. Hancock was about to suggest they find some actual shade, and maybe take a chem break or something until the evening, when she finally spoke. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet since leaving Goodneighbor.   


"I've wanted to bring you here for a long time," she seemed almost bashful when she said it. Wasn't that cute? God, she was fucking cute.   


"Oh, yeah, Sunshine? Well...here we are." He nudged her shoulder with his and she smiled.   


"Yup, here we are." She stared up at the house. "Listen, before we go in... this place is special. It's a  _ secret, _ okay? Nobody from this...this world knows about it. Not even Deacon, and you know how nosy he is." Nora turned to look at him with her serious lawyer face on.   


Man, he had it bad.   


"Sure, sister. Mum's the word. I'll take it to my grave.", and he definitely wasn't going to tell Deacon jackshit. Hancock didn't care if he was an expert in 'intel' or not, he was pretty sure he just used that as an excuse to be a Peeping Tom sometimes.

He helped Nora move aside the wooden board that looked just like every other wooden board on every other boarded up house down the street. Behind it was a steel door. Looked new. There was a keypad on it.

Hancock was now really curious. Nora almost never kept secrets. She kept other people’s secrets, but never her own. This was something new and exciting and he felt his interest sharpen. Could be anything behind that door.

She punched in a code and the door popped open, cool air rushing out to meet them. Somewhere far off, Hancock heard the sound of a generator start running. Maybe in a basement? Had she set up power in this place? Why?

They moved into the darkness and she shut the door behind them. For a moment, it was just the three of them in the total darkness.

“You bring me all this way just to play Seven Minutes in Heaven, Sunshine? I’m flattered.”

He heard her giggle from somewhere to his left. “Yup, you got me.” She flipped a switch and Hancock found himself in what must have been the home’s original porch. There was a beautiful door with colored glass in front of them and an old pre-war light hanging above them. “Do teenagers actually still play that? I would’ve thought it was too tame by Wasteland standards.”

Hancock chuckled. “You’d be surprised what you can do in seven minutes, sister.”

Nora looked at him with wide eyes and tried not to giggle. “Yes, I’m sure I would be.” Her hand went for the handle of the old door and she paused. She turned to look at him and he couldn’t read the look on her face but it was wonderful just the same. “You...you’re only the second boy I’ve ever brought here. It’s probably silly, but...it feels momentous somehow.”

He responded the only way he could, “I’m no boy, love.”

She looked down at her shoes for a second, “No, of course not. Well...the second man, then, I guess.” The old doorknob squealed a protest as she turned it and stepped inside.

Hancock stepped through behind her and whistled. Marble floors, arching ceilings and a crystal chandelier greeted him. Everything spotless and beautiful. It felt like the Cabot House, only decidedly less creepy.

“John Hancock, welcome to my parents’ home.” Nora again took his hand and lead him through the hall, Hancock too overwhelmed by the ambiance to ask anything useful for the time being.

She gestured to the first darkened room, “That’s the music room. It has a Steinway...that’s a kind of piano. Codsworth tuned it for me. Took him almost a week and I have never heard him mutter more obscenities in all my life.” She chuckled at the memory then pointed across the hall, “Over there is the library. It’s the best room in the whole house. Most of the old books survived and its got my father’s collection from his travels, of course. Sometimes I sleep in there instead of my old room, even though Mom would never have allowed it. When I was little, I’d wait in there when I knew Papa was coming home, but if I fell asleep, I always woke up in my own bed.” She continued a bit further, “Through there is the dining room and through that is the kitchen. It wasn’t originally part of the home. This house was built in the 1600s, and kitchens weren’t attached back then...or if they were, it was in the basement. But during the early 1900s, they finally built a little hallway to connect the two buildings. We almost never actually ate in the dining room. Too fancy. But Codsworth  _ loves _ it. Keeps the table set at all times. He actually  _ enjoys _ polishing the silver, if you can believe that.” She rolled her eyes. “There’s a small powder room tucked under the stairs, for guests and things, you know. Second floor is my parents’ suite and Papa’s office. Third floor was my room, my sister’s room and the old nursery, which was used as a playroom...although they had been turning it back into a nursery when Shaun came along, for when we visited.” She finally stopped the tour and looked at him. “Well? What do you think?”

He looked around at the beautiful art and the obviously expensive decor and then at Nora in her silly hat. She still fit in perfectly here.

“Always knew you were a duchess, Sunshine. This just confirms it.” He popped a few mentats. “I thought your dad was a….teacher, of some kind? Teaching must have paid well back then.”

She made a face, “Well, it should have, but no. Papa was a professor, actually. A professor of anthropology.” She noticed Hancock’s puzzled expression. “It’s the study of man. He taught at Boston College and had been given tenure shortly before I was born. Oh, tenure meant like...he basically had a job for life? The college owned this house and most of the things in it. It’s got a lot of historical significance and all. They gave him a lifetime lease as part of his salary. Papa spent half the year teaching classes and the other half traveling the world, exploring exotic places and living with different tribes and cultures all over.”

Hancock nodded, “Must have been hard to only see your dad half the year.”

“Yes, it was. Especially since he was busy as a bee when he was home. He always sent me presents while he was away, though. Some of them are still in my old room.”

“So, if he was some globe-trotting professor, what’d your mom do?”

Nora smiled, “She stayed home with us...did a lot of charity work, too. It was just us three girls most of the time. Mom was...quite a bit younger than Papa. He’d wanted to wait until he was professionally established before he found a wife. She loved his brain and he loved just about everything about her. They looked rather odd together, but loved each other very much, even with the distance.”

He frowned, “Odd how?”

“Well...people sometimes thought he was her father.” Hancock snorted. “She was beautiful, you know, and he was um...well, he  _ looked _ exactly like you would think a professor would. Unfortunately, we lived in a shallow world. People assumed the worst...that Mom was a golddigger type or something, but nothing could have been further from the truth. The sun rose and set in Papa’s eyes, as far as Mom was concerned; and he truly thought she was an angel on earth.” Her eyes got sad for a moment. “That’s...that’s part of why I came back to this place originally. I’d passed it once and had seen that the windows were boarded up from the inside. I was worried they’d...you know, stayed put and maybe gone feral?” She paused, focused on something far away.

He finally squeezed her hand. “Did they?”

She blinked and shook it off, “No. No, they didn’t. They um...they went together. I brought Codsworth with me...I didn’t...I didn’t think I would be able to, um, put them out of their misery. So I sent him into the house with the instructions to put them down should they be feral and then move the bodies downstairs to the old root cellar. I didn’t think I could bear to see them like that. I know I couldn’t have.” Her eyes closed for a moment, willing the idea of that scenario away. “But, when Codsworth found them, they were tucked in bed together. We think they deliberately overdosed on something...there was a letter left for my sister and me. Mom had started to get sick from the radiation, Papa didn’t know what else to do. They said they were sorry for leaving us and that they hoped we’d make it. That they loved us and were proud of us.”

Hancock brought her in for a hug, rubbing her back. “That’s a hell of a thing to have to deal with, Sunshine. I’m sorry.”

She sniffled against him. “It’s okay. We...we left them together. Closed the room off. It can be their mausoleum. It’s sad, of course, but I’m glad they were together. I’m glad they didn’t suffer much. And it’s nice, in a way, to have closure. I’ll never know what happened to Charlie.” She hiccuped, just a bit, at her sister’s name.

“When did all this happen?” He couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t hurt she hadn’t brought him here earlier to deal with all this.

“Oh, ages ago. Right after I woke up. Before I met Nick...or you. I left Codsworth here for a month so he could put the house to rights. He’s the one who put in the security door and the generator in the basement. Once he was finished, I barely came back. Sometimes when I was by myself and needed to think I’d come here. Once I got surprised by some Super Mutants a few blocks over and was hurt. Dogmeat and I stayed a few days then.”

“Hmm.” Well, that wasn’t so bad, he guessed. It’s not like he’d shared every little bit of his past with her, either, and she  _ had _ eventually brought him here. Before anyone else.

She pulled back a bit, the sniffling all but forgotten. “Anyway, I thought it would be nice to hang out here and wait for twilight to go to the Castle. Or we could even stay overnight, if you’d like, and head out in the morning.”

“The Castle? I thought we were headed up to that dock up north?”

“Oh, we are, but I don’t want to  _ walk _ there. The Minutemen have a little trawler working now. They can run us up the coast lickety-split.” She snapped her fingers. “It’ll be nice. A day out on the ocean, with that lovely breeze...miles better than walking in all this heat.”

“I like how you think, Sunshine.” Hancock decided to not mention that he’d never been on a real boat before. He’d also never left the Commonwealth before. If Nora knew either of those things, she might change her mind about letting him tag along on this particular adventure and he wasn’t having that.

“Think your mom would’ve been cool with me taking a little chem break in the library?” He whispered.

Nora’s eyes got all twinkly and she laughed, “Hancock, she would have been beside herself just to have you in her home. You’re exactly the kind of man she always warned us about...and a politician to boot.”

Hancock chuckled as he followed her to the library, “I’d have won her over, eventually.”

“Knowing you, you’d have run away with her...or tried to, anyway.”

“Maybe. Was she as pretty as you?”

“Oh, prettier by far.”

He snorted, doubtful.

Nora flipped on the main overhead light in the library. Not only were the windows still boarded up, heavy drapes hung over the boards. The first floor of the house was as dark as midnight even in the summer sun. Hancock liked it, personally. His eyes were more sensitive to light than a smoothskin’s, and too much of it gave him terrible headaches. Nora’s old home was soothing all the way around.

The library was filled with interesting artifacts from her father’s explorations, and featured floor to ceiling shelves along the walls, full of books. There was a massive oriental carpet covering a tiled marble floor, a fireplace for chilly Boston nights and comfortable leather furniture.

“Wow, Sunshine. This place is swanky.” Her heard her chuckle as his eyes were drawn to the portrait over the fireplace.

A tall, older, lanky man with glasses and an orange shock of hair stood behind the chair of a seated woman. She was elegant with graceful features and dark brown hair. Her eyes were the same dark brown as the two girl’s in the painting. A little cherub with blonde curls stood holding hands with a slender, older girl with pin-straight dark red hair.

It was Nora’s family. Her first family.

Nora walked over until they stood shoulder to shoulder, staring at the picture of pre-war perfection.

“That’s Papa and Mom, of course. Charlie was ten and I was five when they had this done. He’d just gotten a big bonus at work for publishing a paper on a new tribe he contacted in South America. He was the first white man who met them and survived to tell the tale...Papa had a way with people.” She sounded proud when she talked about her eccentric father.

Hancock could see it. The man wasn’t attractive even by modern standards, but there was something about how he stood. Something charismatic and commanding. Like he could just walk right up and be friends with anyone. Must have been where Nora got her knack for bringing people together.

“Mom was so excited to have a proper family portrait done. I can still remember all the treats and toys she promised us if we could just  _ stand still _ and  _ be good _ for the artist. She was going to let us pick out our dresses, but we kept picking ridiculous things. Not on purpose...at first.” She giggled, “My favorite was this giant, fluffy pink party dress complete with tiara. I thought she was going to have a fit when she saw it.”

Both girls in the picture were wearing what looked to be matching velvet dresses. Very tasteful. Charlie’s in green, Nora’s in blue.

Her mother had indeed been gorgeous, but Hancock didn’t think she was prettier than Nora. She had classically beautiful features and her hair was lush and cascaded down in perfect waves; her body under the silver satin was lithe and graceful, but she didn’t have that settled, quiet confidence Nora radiated. There was something restless about her. He was pretty sure she’d been a firecracker. It’s what she looked like.

Nora had already wandered off to find a book. Hancock saw an old globe bar and walked over to pour himself a brandy. When in Rome, and all that.

They each staked out a spot, Nora on the couch with a book, her feet curled up under her with Pumpkin stretched out taking up the rest of the space; and Hancock in a large, overstuffed chair, brandy in one hand and a cigar he’d discovered in a box marked ‘Cubano’ next to the bar in the other. She’d put on the holotape player before she’d sat down. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it was something classical and soothing and when he closed his eyes it made the darkness behind his eyelids dance and whirl in a merry, calming sort of way. Somewhere he could hear the tick of an old clock.

Hancock was pretty sure he could stay in this exact room, with Nora, forever. They didn’t even need to talk. Just her being there was enough.

Besides, he liked watching her read. He liked watching her do anything, really, but it was particularly adorable how absorbed into her reading she would get, eyes darting across the lines, biting her lip and frowning whenever something interesting was happening in the story. He watched her tuck a lock of hair back behind her ear and was almost overtaken by the urge to confess how he felt to her.

Instead, he focused on the swirling brandy in his hand. Women like her were meant for better men than he’d ever been, and they were just friends. Hancock had been determined to try for more with her but he was having doubts now that they were together again. She was just so...good. She deserved so much better than he could ever give her. He was grateful for her friendship and he shouldn’t want or need more.

So why did he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to actually see Nora's house, watch the original Parent Trap (aka the BEST Parent Trap). I totally based it on Sharon's Boston home! ;)


	5. The Problem with the Children

A few hours had passed before Nora stretched and looked around. She set her book down and rested her chin in her hand.

Uh-oh. He knew that look.

“Hancock, we...we need to talk.”

Yup. He knew he knew that look.

He smiled anyway. Talks with Nora were unpredictable at best and usually involved her explaining impossible odds or plans that made even him nervous. “So shoot, Sunshine. I’m all ears.”

She sighed and frowned a bit. “I’m not sure exactly how to say this, but, when we get to Far Harbor, things might be...strange there.”

Hancock laughed, “I know. Nicky filled me in. Giant hermit crabs and crazy raiders and everyone’s a dick.”

Nora sputtered with laughter, “Oh, goodness, is that how he described it?” She looked thoughtful, “I guess that’s pretty accurate, though...the people there are intensely wary of strangers, at least in Far Harbor itself. The people in Acadia are nice enough, though. At least, no worse than the people in Diamond City...the Nucleus though...well, that’s what we need to talk about.”

“The Nucleus? That’s where the Children of Atom were, right?”

She nodded, “Yes, they were...well, they’re a bit different than the ones we have here. They don’t shoot on sight, which is nice, but they’re very intense just the same. We...Nick and I, that is, had to earn their trust to get them to work with us. Although, I don’t think they ever really trusted Nick. He looks too much like his brother.” Hancock nodded. He’d heard about all this weirdness over drinks with Nicky at the Third Rail after they’d returned. He was pretty sure Nicky’s brother was a jerk, but wasn’t everyone’s?

Nora continued, “Nick isn’t human, of course, so, it fell to me. I had to um...well, I had to join them? I mean, I didn’t  _ really _ join them. I don’t believe in that stuff, but I basically had to pretend like I did. They sent me on this...this vision quest kind of thing? Papa had had to do it quite a few times when visiting tribes, so I understood the concept. Nick was there to watch my back, so I figured, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Hancock raised a nonexistent eyebrow, “How bad did it get?”

She laughed, “Oh, pretty bad. I had to drink from this sacred spring. Irradiated, of course. The water was actually glowing...and hot. It was so hot. I’d taken a load of Rad-X and Nick had the Cabot serum as a backup, but I could still feel it; the radiation seeping into me. It was...it reminded me of the cryopods from the Vault, honestly, only in reverse? If that makes sense.”

He nodded. It was the same way he felt when a radstorm rolled in. Like he was being filled with liquid warmth.

“Anyway, I drank the water. Then...then I saw something. A person in the fog but they were all black, like they were made from the fog itself. It told me to follow, so I did. It took me to a shrine to one of their religious figures.”

“I thought they just worshiped Atom.”

“I did, too! But apparently there’s a few demigods in their mythology. It makes sense, I guess, most religions follow the same pattern and they almost all have more than one god, whether they call it that or not. In the shrine, there was a totem of the Mother and I took it back to them as proof of my vision. She...the fog person, also told me I had to save the Children. To do whatever it took.”

Hancock popped his neck. Religious shit like this gave him the creeps. “Damn, Sunshine.”

She nodded, “Yeah. It was quite the experience. I’m still honestly not sure if the whole thing was just a hallucination or what. Nick didn’t see anything but me bumbling about in the woods, but he said there were animals in the fog that would have typically attacked us but didn’t. Like something was holding them back. So...I don’t know. Maybe there is something to it. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter, really, what does matter is they believe I’m this...chosen one? A favored child of Atom and specifically the Mother. I get pretty special treatment when I’m there now.”

Hancock laughed, “So, what, I should expect them to shower you with gifts and tell tales of your holiness while we’re up north?”

Nora laughed, “Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe? That’s not really the thing I needed to talk to you about, though, it’s just...background.”

“Background, huh?”

She sighed, “Yeah, the thing is...after everything was settled, Nick and I went back to check on the Children, just to make sure they were going to be okay. I hadn’t planned on ever coming back to the Island, you know, so I wanted to say goodbye to everyone. They threw us a big dinner and we ended up staying too late. Had to stay the night.” She frowned a little, “I didn’t want to, really, because the whole Nucleus is irradiated and makes me a little sick, honestly, but there was no other choice. The Island is suicidally dangerous to travel at night and by that point I was tired and full and just wanted to sleep. They gave me a room of my own to stay in, because of my status as the Mother’s favorite, and I took some Rad-X and went to sleep.”

Hancock frowned. He didn’t like where this was potentially heading. Nora’s face was drawn and pensive. “What happened when you went to sleep?”

She looked up at him, confused. “Hmm?  _ Oh, _ nothing. Sorry...I guess that sounded quite ominus. No. Nothing happened, except I had a weird dream. A weird dream I should have just forgotten about, but it was very disconcerting, almost like a night terror, so I talked to a friend there about it. I thought maybe it was some side effect of all the Rad-X, and Anna _ is _ their doctor...or the Archemist, as they call her. I’m not sure why I thought what I said would remain between us, but I did. I keep forgetting modern doctors never had to deal with HIPPA before.” Hancock had no idea what a HIPPA was, but he wasn’t going to ask. He wanted to see where this story went.

“I told her about my dream and she immediately declared it a vision and went running off to tell the High Confessor and Grand Zealot. That dream...or, their reaction to it, is why I was nervous about bringing you with me. I don’t want them to...to get overly excited that you’re with me. They’re already such extremists and you can never predict how people like that will react to some things.”

He narrowed his eyes, watching Nora shift about on the couch. Was that nerves? She seemed anxious or almost embarrassed about something. “So what was this magical voodoo dream you had, Sunshine?”

Nora didn’t meet his eyes and instead made a show of straightening Pumpkin’s bow. “Oh, you know, the usual religious vision. Doom and destruction, mysterious figures, babies. All that jazz…”

“So how do I figure in all that? Am I the doom or the destruction?”

That got her giggling. Thank goodness. He didn’t like nervous Nora. At least, not this kind of nervous.

“No, it’s...okay, I’ll just tell you the dream and then tell you what they’ve decided it absolutely has to mean and you can see just how ridiculous it is.”  He nodded, popped a few more mentats and leaned forward, focused.

Nora closed her eyes, took a deep breath and began, “So...I was standing at the edge of the ocean. Everything around me was charred and glowing. It seemed like the sky itself was on fire and there was a hot wind coming in from the sea. The fog person from my first vision, the Mother, was there, and she had a shining blade in her hand. It was blue. I remember that because everything else was black and red and it stood out. She handed it to me and pointed out to sea, where this huge...thing was rising up out of the water. It was as big as a mountain. I knew...I knew it was coming for the Children and the others on the Island, and she wanted me to stop it, but I was so afraid. The knife in my hand was so small compared to it. There were these horrible screams coming from it. Like no creature I’ve ever heard before.” She paused for a second, “Then, this...thing, shot out from it. Some kind of arm. It hit me right in the chest and tore my heart out. I could see it beating and it hurt. Oh, it hurt so much. I didn’t know how I could go on without it, so I chased after. I ran out to sea with my little glowing knife and started stabbing at the creature so it would let my heart go. Then...it worked. I watched it fill with the blue light from my blade and it just sort of...dissolved into what kind of looked like feral ghouls and they all fell back into the ocean. My chest still hurt, and I tried to find my heart but it had vanished...she, the Mother, said that was okay, that it was coming back to me but different? I looked up and there was a figure in red, they were holding a bundle in their arms like a baby and they gave it to me. Then I woke up. I was crying and my chest still hurt.” She finally opened her eyes and looked to him.

Hancock had been nodding along. “Shit, that sounds like a bad trip. Do you think you got some bad Rad-X?” He wondered if bad Rad-X even existed.

“Well, that’s kind of what I thought. The Children make their own for this religious thing they do called scouring. They get clean from the radiation so they can get irradiated all over again.” Hancock rolled his eyes and Nora nodded in agreement. “I know, I know, I don’t get it either. Usually their stuff is top notch though. Anna was a proper doctor in Far Harbor before she converted, so she knows what she’s doing. I told her about it and thought maybe she’d just check the batch mine had come from but nope. Off she went, babbling about my silly dream to anyone who would listen.” Nora sounded understandably grumpy about the whole thing.

“So, what did the oh so wise Children decide it meant?”

She snorted, “Oh, that’s the best part. I’m to be the mother of the second coming of Atom after I slay some mythical devil-beast.”

“Shit, Sunshine. Gonna have to start watching my language around you and all. Call you Holy Mother or whatever.”

Nora threw a cushion at him. “Ha ha, very funny.”

She had terrible aim. Cushion never even came close. “I don’t get it though. They’re weird and are probably going to be extra worshipful or whatever around you, but what’s the harm?”

Now she couldn’t meet his eyes directly and that was  _ definitely _ a blush. “Well...it’s um...it’s Nick’s fault, really. See, I’m not just supposed to be the mother to this demigod baby, I’m supposed to have it with someone Atom has blessed.”

Hancock snorted, “Oh, that’s real convenient. I bet they just happen to have a big guy waiting to stand as stud, huh? Well,  _ fuck that. _ If you don’t wanna fuck somebody, ain’t nobody makin’ you on my watch.”

Now Nora was laughing, “No, no, not one of his chosen. One of his  _ blessed _ . Somehow they got it in their heads that I’m supposed to mate, successfully, with a ghoul. The baby, the new Atom, he’s supposed to be some new magical hybrid to bring all of mankind closer to division or something.”

He blinked. Oh,  _ now _ it was getting interesting. “Wait...a ghoul? Ghouls can’t reproduce. The radiation makes us all sterile.”

Nora nodded, “Yes, I know. I even double-checked it with Wiseman just to make sure I had it right once we got home.”

Hancock chewed on a mentat, orange this time. “You said ‘it’s Nick’s fault’. What, exactly, is Nick’s fault in all this?”

She was still giggling, a little. “It’s just...when they mentioned the ghoul part, his brain...he put ‘figure in red’ and ghoul and came up with...you. He blurted out your name before he could stop himself. It’s not...it’s not just me that they think is chosen, Hancock. It’s you, too. You’ve been named the Holy Consort. They’ve probably got a mosaic or something of your likeness up by now.”

“I’m...we’re supposed to make a baby?”

She nodded. “Yup.”

“And that baby is supposed to be a demigod?”

Nora nodded again. “Yes. A ‘new path for mankind to follow to Atom’s glory’, I believe the Zealot called it.”

Hancock wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry. This entire thing was completely ridiculous. Ghouls couldn’t reproduce. That was something so basic that everyone in the Wastes knew it. These Children were hoping for a miracle that wasn’t coming.

Nora still looked a little uncomfortable. “The thing is though...now there’s this weird new threat at Dalton and you wanted to come with me so bad...I don’t...I don’t think they’re right about the baby thing, obviously, but, what if the rest of it was right? What if there’s some big crazy thing we’re supposed to take down?”

He smiled at her, “Anything gets in our way is gonna wish it hadn’t, sister. It’ll be just like old times.” He felt relieved when she smiled back. “Although…”, he gave her a once over, “you ever wanna try practicing that baby making stuff, I’m totally down.”

Nora had much better aim with her book.


	6. To the Castle

Dinner that night was noodles from bowls so fancy Hancock could almost smell the money on them. Nora had apologized, repeatedly, for not having anything better. She told him that she’d always planned on detouring here with him, but she’d thought it would just be a quick pit stop before grabbing Nick. He didn’t mind; it wasn’t like he actually needed to eat. Nora was always trying to stuff him full of food and he was always having to remind her that ghouls didn’t need to eat as much as smoothskins did...and anyway, not all ghouls were meant to be walking masses of muscles like Wiseman. He’d been wiry as a smoothskin, he was fairly emaciated as a ghoul. Different strokes.

He’d coaxed her into playing the piano after dinner. Hancock had one in the Third Rail, and sometimes a drifter would come along who could bang out a tune, but he’d never seen one so elegant as Nora’s, and he was fairly certain no drifter had the benefit of years of lessons. She’d asked for requests but he didn’t know classical music. He’d enjoyed the radio station the Institute had pumped out (perhaps the only positive of the Institute), but they’d never said what the songs were. Hancock told her anything she wanted to play was fine and she’d smiled that quiet smile and told him he’d only get two songs since he was making her pick.

The first was slow, deliberate and lovely. She called it Clair de Lune. He thought it sounded like the way moonlight looks on still water. The second was just as lovely. Something about it was a little sad, too, though. Nora told him that’s how most Chopin pieces were. Hancock thought ‘Nocturne’ was a pretty cool name, too. If he ever got a dog, he was naming it that.

All too soon, it was time for bed. Nora was sleeping in her old room and Hancock on the ridiculously comfy couch in the library. He even took off his boots when Nora gave him the eye over it.

She kept giving him weird looks. Like she wanted to say something, but didn’t. Hancock kept waiting, he didn’t want to push. Daisy had told him pre-war girls hadn’t liked it when men were as pushy as modern men could be, so he was careful.

The truth was, he’d never been in a situation like this before. His usual way of getting someone to have sex with him was pretty direct, but, as Daisy had helpfully pointed out, he’d never had an actual relationship before. In the past, he’d occasionally found someone who could keep up with him for a week or two, but nothing beyond that. Usually, on the off chance that he struck out, he’d just take it in stride and move on to the next fish to jump in the net, but Nora was different. She wasn’t just another warm body. Hancock knew a thousand ways to seduce someone, but no idea how to convince them he was relationship material.

It didn’t help that his reputation had always preceded him in a huge way. He knew Nora had heard about the State House tours and she’d teased him about Irma’s crush on his pre-ghoul self. She saw him as a lovable, dangerous rogue type, which is usually exactly what he wanted most people to see him as. The problem was that Nora wasn’t most people. It had taken just a few months of knowing her to realize he wanted her to see him as more. Friendship had blossomed after they started traveling around together, then it progressed to best friends but Hancock was clueless about taking it further. He wasn’t sure Nora could even see him as a potential partner and he wasn’t sure she’d ever want to be with a guy like him anyway. Before their year apart, she’d still been wearing her old wedding ring. Clearly, she hadn’t been ready.

But there were those odd little looks. The times where her cheeks would go pink even when they weren’t in the heat. The way she kept opening her mouth and then shaking her head a little and clamming up. The pale band of skin on her finger where her ring had been. The fact that she was making more physical contact with him now than she ever had. She’d even kissed him on the cheek before bed. That had floored him and he was grateful that his brain was somehow able to respond with a perfectly normal sounding “Good night, sister” after.

But he wasn’t going to push. This was too important and he could do patient, right? He’d waited for a whole year to see her again, hadn’t he? That showed self-restraint, he thought.

The next morning, they started for the Castle. Hancock helped Nora once again with the board that hid the secrets of her old house. He was surprised and flattered when she pressed a key in his hand and whispered the code to the front door in his ear. “A quiet place to rest when you need it”, she’d said. He’d put the key in the same pocket as her letter and picture, right by his heart.

Their walk to the Castle was uneventful and, to Hancock’s way of thinking, incredibly boring. The Minutemen, under Preston and Ronnie Shaw’s joint leadership, had done a remarkable job at retaking most of Boston. It helped that there were also Railroad heavies patrolling the outskirts, always on the lookout for anyone hostile to synths or still loyal to the Institute. He’d thought that evacuation alarm had been a bad idea, but Nora had insisted on the grounds that there were families with children. Hancock was all for saving those innocents, but plenty of asshole scientists had made it out, too, and were now occasionally popping up in random places, causing trouble. He wondered if they even realized they’d become the very Wasteland scum they’d destested so much.

Nora and Hancock were greeted with an enthusiastic twenty-one gun salute as they walked up the long path to the old fortress. New recruits stood on the walls, excited to get a peek at the former general who’d restored the honor of the Minutemen and taken down the Institute. Nora had always disliked being the center of attention, so she’d waved shyly and pulled her hat down a bit, while Hancock shouted and hooted back at the militia.

“General! It’s good to see you!”

“It’s retired general, Preston.  _ You’re _ general now. The hat looks good on you.” Nora smiled up at the young man as he shook her and Hancock’s hands, always the Boy Scout on his best behavior.

“You’ll always be the general to me, ma’am. The trawler’s all ready. Do you want to go over the intel one more time?”

“Not unless anything has changed. I poured over everything you’d sent me last night. I, um, couldn’t sleep.” Her cheeks were pink again, probably from the midmorning heat.

Hancock wasn’t sure but he thought her eyes had darted to him when she said she hadn’t slept. That was...different. She’d never had trouble sleeping around him before. He could recall a couple times when she’d even shared a blanket with him during the winter months when they were out in the field on random missions. Ever since the cryostasis, she couldn’t seem to stay warm and he always pumped out heat like an oven.

Preston was nodding, “Alrighty then.” He led the way around the Castle to the new dock. “I hope it all turns out to be nothing. The battalion I sent up was...well, they were young, but Ronnie trained them all. I really thought they could handle it.”

“They’re probably just lost, Preston”, Nora said soothingly. “The Island can be very confusing if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. I don’t know how many times Nick and I would have been lost in the fog if it hadn’t been for the map on my Pipboy.” She straightened his hat for him in a motherly fashion, seemingly unable to help herself. “You made the right call sending them. And now you’re making another right call by sending us. There’s nothing Hancock and I can’t take down. It will be fine.”

“Yeah, we’ll get your boys back, Garvey. No worries.” Hancock slapped the man on the shoulder. There was something about this goody-goody he couldn’t help but like.

“Well, if it’s you two, I guess I really don’t have anything to worry about.” They’d reached the dock with it’s little trawler, painted blue with a Minutemen flag flying proudly. Only the second vessel of their fledgling navy. “Conner here will be your captain for the trip to the Nakano’s.” Preston nodded at the Minuteman behind the wheel and gave Nora a hand up onto the boat, then quickly scrambled out of the way of Pumpkin, who jumped in after. Hancock took his time boarding, trying to look casual and secretly praying he didn’t end up getting seasick. “Godspeed, general...uh, Nora. And good luck.” He saluted as the boat pulled away. Hancock tipped his hat and Nora waved until he was a tiny speck at the edge of the water as they headed north.


	7. Blue Skies and Sunshine

Hancock decided he liked the Nakanos right away. The wife, Rei, was a sweetheart. She’d handed them a huge basket full of mirelurk cakes, bread, mutfruit and melon, and lots of water for their trip to Maine. Kenji was a little intense, but seemed well-intentioned. He was busy giving Nora letters and random bits of machinery that their daughter, Kasumi, had asked for. Everything got packed away and they started up the coast just past noon. Nora had told him they wouldn’t reach Far Harbor until around dinner the next day, even with calm seas and perfect weather. That was just fine by him. She’d given him sunglasses for the journey (always so thoughtful), and he found that ocean travel agreed with him, thankfully. He wasn’t quite as steady on his feet as he’d like to be, but at least he wasn’t sick the whole time.

Speaking of sick, he was pretty sure something was wrong with Nora. She seemed preoccupied and jumpy the further along they went. He kept trying to keep the small talk going, but it was pretty hard when it was nearly all one-sided. After a couple hours of her giving him nothing more than the occasional ‘hmm’ or ‘yeah’ he was about to suggest she take a nap. Maybe the lack of sleep from the night before was catching up with her.

“Hey, sister, if you’re tired, don’t keep yourself up on my account.”

Nora’s head shot up from her careful contemplation of the hem of her shorts. “What? No. No, I’m fine. Sorry. Just thinking.” She’d changed into shorts and sneakers at the Nakanos, saying she wanted to soak up all the sun she could before arriving in Far Harbor. Perfectly innocent and absolutely not her fault that he was a pervert.

“Oh, yeah? You know where thinking leads.” Hancock smiled at her and was relieved when she smiled back.

“I know. Hey, guess what.” She sat next to him in the shade of the bridge where their bedrolls had been laid out to make a sort of makeshift bench.

He tried to not eye her legs. Sunglasses or not, he was trying to be on his best behavior here. “What?”

“Cait. And. Preston.” Her eyes were huge.

Hancock looked over his shades at her. “No! How’d that happen?”

She laughed, “I have no idea! It was at the Detonation Day party. Preston had come in from the Castle and was staying with Shaun and I on our couch, right? Well, Codsworth and I got up early to make french toast and Preston wasn’t there.” She shrugged a little, “I wasn’t worried, of course. I figured he’d gone on a patrol or something. Old habits and all that. Then he comes walking in,  _ shirtless _ and carrying his boots!” Nora was giggling now. “I thought he was going to die when Codsworth asked him if he’d ‘enjoyed his morning constitutional’.”

“Oh, is  _ that _ what we’re calling it now?” He asked, deadpan.

Nora clapped her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles. “We should. We should absolutely call it that!”

Hancock chortled at her expression. This felt more like them.

She finally got herself under control. “Anyway! Back to the story! So Preston wouldn’t hardly look at me and I really couldn’t figure out what was going on to save my life. Then Shaun woke up, so I was busy getting him his juice and all. Preston had all his clothes back on at this point and we finally got breakfast on the table. Everything was fine until Shaun asked Preston if he was wearing lipstick and if all men did.”

His eyes about popped out of his head. “Oh, man. Poor Preston.”

She nodded, “Yes, poor Preston, indeed! He was so embarrassed! Then Codsworth goes ‘Isn’t that Miss Cait’s prefered shade?’ and then, and only then, did I realize what had happened. Preston must have seen it on my face because he practically fell out of his chair trying to get away, saying he was going to do a perimeter check.”

“Aw, poor Boy Scout.”

“I know!”

“What did Cait say when you asked her about it?”

“She just said she’d always had a thing for men in uniform.”

Hancock snorted, “Of course she does.”

“I asked her how it happened. I...dating and romance are a lot different in this time, you know? All my moves are from 200 years ago, so I was hoping she could give me some tips.”

His eyes went wide. The idea of Nora having moves and wanting tips on modern romance was...interesting, and just a bit heartbreaking, if he was being completely honest. He wondered who’d she met in the past year, or if it was one of their mutual friends. Mac would be a good match for her. He was young and mouthy, but protective and a good father. He knew it couldn’t be Deacon. The man was still in love with a ghost as far as Hancock knew. Danse was...well, Hancock hated the guy but he could see how a woman would be into that. He was a soldier, like Nate had been, and he  _ was _ handsome for all his bigotry. X6 had never learned how to pretend to be human, so it couldn’t be him...

He finally realized Nora was looking at him carefully. She was waiting for a response. Shit.

“Uh...oh, yeah? What did she say?” It was all he could manage.

That little line that Nora got between her eyebrows when something wasn’t going the way she wanted it to had shown up. “Um...well, she said it was simple. That all that song and dance from my time was stupid and a big waste of time.” She frowned at that.

“Nah, sister. It wasn’t stupid. It was...nice. Sweet, even. People just don’t have the luxury nowadays.”

She sighed, “I know...anyway, she said all she did was grab Preston, drag him into her house and tell him to take his pants off.”

Hancock laughed, “Heh, that’s certainly one way to get it done.”

Nora giggled, “I guess. It seems...very bold to me, and it wasn’t very helpful. I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to manage that level of...boldness? I wasn’t even considered fast in  _ my _ time. I’m practically  _ glacial _ by modern standards.”

He nudged her shoulder with his. “It’s alright. You shouldn’t worry about it. Not all guys need that kind of push. I’m sure someone’s just waiting to sweep you right off your feet.”

She smiled softly, “You think so, huh?”

He smiled back, “I know so.” ‘I’m right here’, he wanted to say, but didn’t. Couldn’t. They were on a boat in the middle of nowhere with no escape. If he used his one shot and failed, the only out was to jump in the ocean.

Her eyes darted over his face briefly. Like there was something she wanted to say, too, but didn’t, for whatever reason. “Thanks, Hancock.”

“Anytime, Sunshine.” There was a sad look in her eyes that he hated. He hated the idea of her being lonely far more than he hated the idea of her being with some other asshole. Someone as wonderful as her should be spending her days being cherished and spoiled by someone who loved her, even if that someone wasn’t him.

“Hey,” he tipped her chin up with a finger, “you ever need advice for Wasteland romance, don’t hesitate to ask, alright? I’ve been around the block a time or two, ya know.”

The sadness melted away, chased off by her usual mischievous nature. “Oh, I know. You’re a regular post-apocalyptic Casanova.”

“Casanova, huh? That make you my Henriette?” He watched her mouth fall open just a little.

“You’ve read  _ Histoire de ma vie?” _ She sounded impressed and he did his best to appear nonchalant about what that did to him.

He shrugged, “I read a lot of shit. Daisy and I have a kind of book club thing happening. We read it a few years back.”

Nora narrowed her eyes at him, “How come I’m just now hearing about this book club?”

Hancock laughed, “Ghoul’s gotta have some secrets, sister. Otherwise I lose my whole unknowable badass vibe.”

“Hmm, I guess,” she grumped and crossed her arms. “I’m no Henriette, though.”

“Oh? I dunno...you’re smart, beautiful...you sent me away heartbroken,” he’d meant for it to come off as a lighthearted jest but once it was out there, he realized just how much it rang true.

The way Nora froze, he knew she’d heard it. That note of pain he couldn’t disguise. At least he still had his sunglasses. He was starting to get why Deacon liked hiding behind them so much.

“I...I’m sorry for that.” She looked away from him and stared off into nothing, her whole posture changed into something that reminded him a little of a wounded animal. “I was really messed up for a long time after Detonation. I didn’t know who I was supposed to be anymore. I wasn’t my pre-war self, I wasn’t a mother searching for her baby...I felt like all that was left was a monster.” Her voice wobbled just a little at the end and Hancock took her hand in his.

“You ain’t a monster, Sunshine. You only did what you had to.”

She nodded, eyes never leaving the sea. “Yeah, I know I did. I knew it then, too, but it didn’t change how I felt. I was broken. Hollow. I had...pieces of myself but I couldn’t make them fit together; and I was worried that when I did, you might not like that person.”

He popped a couple of mentats and chewed that over. It sounded a lot like a nervous breakdown to him. He’d seen it happen to drifters and older ghouls a few times, but he had never thought it would happen to Nora. She’d always seemed too scrappy to break.

“See, the problem was,” she continued, “I hadn’t felt like myself since I first went into the Vault. I felt like I was constantly in fight-or-flight after I woke up and I’d poured everything I had into finding Shaun and destroying the Institute, so...once that was over, there was nothing left.”

Hancock remembered that cold November night when she’d came through his gate. Head held high, strapped to the gills, escorted by a politely psychotic Mr. Handy and a dog ferocious enough to take down a Super Mutant. She’d radiated purpose and fearlessness; a woman with nothing to lose. That, combined with her drool-worthy vault suit getup and her sass when dealing with that asshole Finn had been enough to attract his attention. When he’d realized she was the Vaultscicle making waves all over the Commonwealth, pulling everyone she came across into her orbit, he’d been hooked; and to his great surprise, he’d remained hooked ever since.

“I can’t believe that, sister. Once a force of nature, always a force of nature.” That got her to finally give him a sidelong glance.

“Even a hurricane dies out at some point, Hancock.”

He snorted, “You’re no hurricane, Sunshine. You’re a fucking star.”

She rolled her eyes and leaned against his shoulder, “Those die out, too.”

“No shit?”

“Yup.”

“Well, goddamn.” Nora chuckled and he set his head on hers. “My point remains, though. Somewhere deep, deep down, you’re always going to be exactly who you are. Ain’t nothing changing that.”

“That’s very philosophical...and oddly comforting.” He heard the relief in her voice. “I tried to go back to the old me, for a while. In Sanctuary. Deacon showed up with Shaun and I just fell back into the role of mother and housewife or...house-widow, I guess? It was nice...safe, but it didn’t feel right. I mean, I love Shaun and I love being his mother, but I couldn’t become  _ her _ again, no matter how hard I tried.” She laughed, but it was a bit off. “You wouldn’t have liked pre-war me anyway, so I guess it’s a good thing she’s dead.”

“Shows what you know. I bet I would have loved her,” another attempt at being lighthearted. He felt like this one went a little better, even if he thought he felt her breath hitch for just a moment.

“I doubt it. The most exciting thing I did back then was clip coupons and gossip with my neighbors. I would have bored you to tears.” She was trying the lighthearted thing, too. It wasn’t going well for either of them.

Hancock frowned at that. “Hey, you know you don’t have to entertain me, right? You can just...be you. That’s always been enough.”

There was a long pause. “Even if it turns out I’m a boring old fuddy-duddy?”

“Even then, Nora.” He squeezed her hand a little. “Don’t get me wrong. Traveling around with you and getting our hands dirty together back in the day was fuckin’ great. But if you want to stay in Sanctuary baking cupcakes and knitting socks or some shit, I’m down for that, too. So long as I get to be with you.” It was as close as he’d ever come to telling her how he felt. The silence after his rambling stretched out and he started to feel a little nervous. “Looks like my dazzling personality got another one…”, he tried to laugh it off.

Then he heard it. A quiet, delicate snore. She’d fallen asleep.

Hancock chuckled to himself and rested his head back against the helm to doze. Looked like she was going to take that nap after all.

  
  
  


She woke up around dinnertime without any prompting. That made Hancock smile. Reminded him of the old days. No matter what the situation, Nora always stopped to eat at the same times. Breakfast at eight, lunch at noon and dinner at six. Sometimes a little snack around three. Like clockwork. Even if all she did was eat a handful of Sugar Bombs, she always ate. Her body had burned through calories like he burned through chems back then.

A slower life in Sanctuary though had added curves back to the muscle she’d picked up traveling the Wasteland. He liked it. Made him think some seriously inappropriate thoughts, but despite any personal discomfort her restored figure might give him, he was happy to see her looking healthy again. The few times he’d seen any of her body under all the armor she wore, he could tell the weight she’d lost after waking up had come off much too fast. She’d probably struggled to find things to eat that didn’t make her sick until her body adjusted to the new normal of constant rads.

Once adjusted, however, Nora ate with an appetite that seemed more appropriate for a behemoth than the little slip of a thing she actually was. She’d try anything that wasn’t a radroach or a bloatfly at least once, and he’d been surprised at some of the stuff she loved. Like mirelurk. The way her eyes gleamed when she took one down was somewhere between terrifying and enchanting and she’d told him stories of crab legs with clarified butter and champagne and fancy dinners by the sea, all while stuffing her face with the disgustingly slimy meat. He wasn’t one to judge, but it was pretty gross, honestly. Shit tasted like...well, shit to him.

Nora stood and stretched, popping her back and then shaking it out. He’d seen her do it a million times, but never in shorts...and never with her ass jiggling right in his face. It was shit like this that made him wonder sometimes if she even saw him as a man at all.

The idea irritated him enough that he decided he needed a cigarette. Hancock got up, ignored the tingling in his legs from where they’d started to go numb and moved to the end of the boat where the wolf was stretched out in the sun. Pumpkin gave his boots a good sniff when he approached and went back to sleeping with her tongue lolling out. He watched her warily while he lit up. She sure  _ seemed _ like the laziest creature he’d ever met, but Dogmeat always seemed like a playful little puppy until he was ripping someone’s throat out. You never could tell with Nora’s pets.

Nora was rummaging through the basket the Nakanos had gifted her with. Hancock sincerely hoped she didn’t try to shove a mirelurk cake down his throat. He didn’t care how good they supposedly were.

He was staring at the water, enjoying his cigarette and the ocean air, when a piece of melon suddenly entered his field of vision.

“Want some? Watermelon tastes  _ amazing _ when you’re out at sea.” She was shaking a piece at him, seemingly unaware that the juice was running down her arm. He was certainly aware of it. Sometimes just looking at her was like being on jet. Everything slowed down and all the tiny details that went into making her his Sunshine became magnified and illuminated.

“Oh yeah?” He accepted the piece and tossed his cigarette overboard. Her eyes followed it, a little irritated about his littering, no doubt, but she let it slide.

“Yup. It’s all the salt in the air. When I was a kid, we’d get a big watermelon every weekend during the summer and Mom would cut it up and salt it for us. They still taste like summer vacation to me.” She finally noticed the juice that had run down her arm and licked it off before sucking it off her fingers.

Hancock had never been so grateful for accessories in his entire life. He was definitely going to have to think about incorporating sunglasses into his look permanently if she kept shit like this up. He took a bite of his melon, enjoying how the sweet taste mixed with the salty air in his mouth. She was right. It was amazing.

They ate their melon and stared out at the sea. Hancock had never been far enough away from shore that you couldn’t see it. It was kind of freeing and scary all at once. He’d read a lot of books about the pre-war natural world and there had been some strange stuff in the oceans back then. Chances were good it had only gotten stranger following the bombs. He was especially worried about something called a megalodon. Some kind of fucking huge shark with teeth as big as your hand. He couldn’t remember if it was from Nora’s time or from before that, but just the idea that a fish like that had once existed period was enough to make him wary.

She sighed and shook her head, “I wonder how much life survived in the ocean. I’ve seen mutated dolphins wash up on shore, but never any live ones. There used to be whales and stingrays and jellyfish; all sorts of wonderful things out there. I wish you could have seen it.”

He snickered a bit, “There was shit like sharks, too, though, right? I’ll take a hard pass on that.”

Nora clucked at him, “I’m surprised at you, Hancock. Disparaging another predator like that. Sharks were very misunderstood creatures, you know. Feared and hated just because they looked scary, when all they really wanted was to be left alone to live their lives in peace. Sound familiar?” She looked up at him and smiled a little.

Hancock watched her hair dance in the wind, how her dark eyes sparkled like the sea, and he had to admit, he felt very predatory in that moment. “So I’m a shark, huh?”

She shrugged, “Sure, why not? Sharks could be lethal but they were beautiful, too. Sounds like you to me.”

He honestly didn’t know what to do with that, so he just nodded sagely and went back to watching the water with her. His eyes flicked down to Pumpkin at their feet and her silly blue bow and he chuckled a little. Sunshine clearly had different ideas about beauty than he, or anyone else he knew, did.


	8. Bait

That night was hard on him. Nora had moved their bedrolls out onto the deck once the sun went down so they could sleep under the stars and he’d politely turned so she could get into her ‘pajamas’. She always liked to sleep in clothes that were different than her day clothes if she could. Some old carryover from her pre-war days. It usually meant an old t-shirt and pants or maybe long-johns if it was cold out.

When she’d told him he could turn around again, he did so expecting to see her covered up more than she’d been during the day, which, frankly, would have been a welcome break. He wasn’t sure how much more of her legs he could take before he went and made a jackass out of himself.

So when he was confronted with Nora standing there in old threadbare boxers and a tank top, his brain temporarily shorted out and he just stared at her.

She narrowed her eyes a little at his expression, “What?”

“Don't mind me. Just admiring the view,” it flew out of his mouth before he could stop it.

That blush bloomed in her cheeks, “It’s...it’s hot out is all.” Her arms folded protectively over her chest and she stared down at the deck, clearly embarrassed.

Shit. The last thing he wanted was for her to be uncomfortable around him again. The idea of it was enough to jumpstart his brain again. He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, “I’m a shark, remember? Going to notice a pretty fish if it crosses my path, that's just a given when you got me around. I don't mean no harm by it and I don't want that to affect what we got.”

Nora chewed her lip a bit before looking up at him, “So I’m a pretty fish, huh?”, her tone was lightly teasing.

He breathed a sigh of relief. If she was willing to joke about it, he knew he was forgiven. “The prettiest I’ve ever seen, Sunshine.”

Now she grinned at him, “It’s a shame you don’t like seafood then.” She pouted at him for just a second before dropping down on her bedroll to watch the stars, Pumpkin quickly snuggling up to her side.

Hancock shook his head and laughed. He’d missed her kind of mischief. “Maybe it’s an acquired taste.” Off came the red frock coat and he folded it into a kind of pillow before laying on top of his own bedroll.

“Isn’t that what you said about radroach?”

He grinned over at her, “Maybe.”

She snorted at that and raised her arm, pointing at the stars. “Look. See that bright star? It’s Polaris.”

“That’s the North Star, right?”

“That’s right. It’s the only star that doesn’t move in the sky because it lines up perfectly with how the earth spins.” He heard the smile in her voice and felt like he’d earned a gold star from the teacher in Diamond City. “Extending down from it is Ursa Minor, which means Little Bear. People also call it the Little Dipper.” Her arm moved a bit to the right. “There’s Ursa Major, which is the Big Bear, or Big Dipper.”

Hancock had seen star charts and knew about constellations, but being born and raised in the city meant that he’d never had a real use for that kind of knowledge, so he’d never bothered to retain any of it, really. Besides, he liked listening to her talk. Had always liked it. She could teach him anything she wanted and he’d soak it up like rads.

She pointed towards the left now. “There’s the summer triangle. It’s made up of Vega, Deneb and Altair. Some day, when the Earth’s axis shifts, Vega will be our new North Star.”

“It’s going to shift?”

“Yup.”

He felt a little nervous at the idea of that. “When is that happening, exactly?”

“Hmm...I think...maybe around thirteen thousand years from now?”

Oh, good. He’d be long gone by then.

“Sailors use the stars to navigate, you know. Always have. Even when computers took over, the navigators and captains of any vessel could still pull out a sextant and find their way. Isn’t that amazing? I have no idea how they did that, but I know they did. I wonder if the people in Far Harbor still do it?”

Hancock toed his boots off and wiggled his toes. “Probably. Nicky said they were pretty old-school up there.”

Nora chuckled, “They are that.” She turned and propped up on her elbow for a moment. “Hey, speaking of, I honestly don’t know how they feel about ghouls. I mean, I can’t see them caring in Acadia and the Nucleus will be...the Nucleus, but I can’t remember even  _ seeing _ a ghoul in Far Harbor proper.” She frowned a bit, thoughtful. “If any of them give you any trouble, let me know, okay? They’re pretty antagonistic to outsiders to begin with, which I get, but I’m not letting anyone get away with that kind of ignorance.”

He stared up at her. She seemed protective of him in a way she hadn’t been before. When they’d traveled to Vault 81 back in the day, she’d rolled her eyes at the bigoted comments directed his way, but left him to deal with it himself. This new Nora, whoever she’d managed to cobble together from the remnants of the old, looked ready to fight an entire navy’s worth of sailors on his behalf. He liked it. Protective was sexy on her.

“Thanks, Sunshine, but I can handle whatever these hicks can dish out.”

She laughed, “Oh, I know. I was more worried about  _ them _ getting hurt than you.” She winked at him and fell back, staring up at the vastness of the sky. He was going to mouth off to her when she raised both hands, fingers outstretched, “See that pretty band of white? Like someone painted the sky?”

He reluctantly turned back to the stars and looked, “Yeah, that’s...what, the Milky Way, right?”

“That’s right.” She sounded pleasantly surprised. “Do you know what it is?”

“Uh...something about a lot of stars?”

“That’s...close. It’s an arm of our own galaxy. The Milky Way is the galaxy we’re in. It’s made of hundreds of trillions of stars, countless planets...all orbiting a black hole at the center. We’re actually kind of in the outskirts of it. Gives us a killer view though.” Her arms fell back onto her stomach and she sighed, “It’s beautiful. I’ve always loved looking at the stars. They’re comforting, you know? I even went to astronaut camp as a kid once.”

“You wanted to fly around in space?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

Hancock laughed, “You have some serious thrill issues, sister. I like my feet on the ground.”

_ “I  _ have thrill issues? Aren’t you the one who’ll use anything you find in a syringe?  _ That’s _ thrill issues.” She sniffed at him in a prissy sort of way.

“Hey now, I never said it was a bad thing. Without thrill issues, you probably wouldn’t have joined up with a rascal like me in the first place.” He glanced over at her. He was torn between wanting to memorize exactly how she looked in this moment, and keeping the image as far away from his mind as possible.

She caught his gaze and smiled fondly at him, “You think so?”

“I know so. Dames like you don’t mess around with men like me unless you’re looking for some kinda thrill.”

An eyebrow went up, “Oh really?”

He liked the sparkle in her eyes, even if he couldn’t quite put his finger on the look she was giving him. “In my experience? Yeah, really.” Grape mentats would probably help this conversation a bit so he popped a couple in his mouth.

That mischievous smile was back, “So what thrill am I after this time?”

A realization suddenly swept over him. Was this Nora trying to flirt with him? He felt like she kept trying to lead him somewhere and he kept fucking it up. He decided to push just a bit, despite Daisy’s advice to the contrary.

He propped himself up and leaned toward her just a little, giving her the same smile that had worked on so many others. “Isn’t it obvious? Getting me out here under the stars and all. You in that outfit. You’re clearly looking to take a test drive. Can’t say I’ve ever done a boat tour, but there’s a first time for everything.” It felt clumsy when it fell out of his mouth. Like something a teenage John McDonough would have said.

The smile disappeared and her face fell a little. She looked frustrated and...hurt, maybe? Hancock wondered if she’d throw him a life preserver if he chucked himself overboard right now.

Nora abruptly rolled over, draping an arm around Pumpkin. “Good night, Hancock.”

He dropped back on his bedroll and rubbed his face with his hands. Fucking idiot. It was those legs. They’d made him a jackass after all. “Good night.”

It took almost an hour, but she eventually drifted off. He watched her breathing even out and the lines of her body go from frostily rigid to relaxed and boneless. She was one of the deepest sleepers he’d ever encountered. It probably came from growing up in a world where you weren’t under the constant imminent threat of death.

Sleep was far more elusive for him. Always had been. Even as a kid, he’d spent a lot of his nights sneaking out and wandering the city. It’s what lead him to his first chem, his first lay, his first gun. He’d always maintained that sleep in general was overrated. Watching Nora and how peaceful she seemed made him reconsider that opinion. It would probably be pretty nice to be able to reach that level of relaxation without chems, not that he would ever know.

As a ghoul, every little sound, every little vibration the world threw off, hit him harder than smoothskins. Wiseman had said it had something to do with how the inner ear hardened during ghoulification and he was going to have to take his word on that. He didn’t mind things getting loud and messy or anything, but at night, it made it hard to turn his brain off enough to actually achieve real sleep.

Right now, his desire to flog himself bloody for that stupid pickup line he’d tried combined with the sound of the boat’s engine beneath them meant sleep was an impossibility. His eyes drifted over to Nora. She certainly wasn’t helping either with her strange hot and cold attitude towards him..or that outfit. He had half a mind to cover her with his coat just to see if it made her less distracting.

Maybe she really was different? Sometimes it felt like he was just hanging out with his best friend, just like the old days. Other moments he felt like he hardly knew her. There was that weirdness, too. It used to be, he’d make a dirty remark, she’d make a joke back or get brutally sarcastic with him (which he loved), and they’d be fine. Peas and carrots. In perfect synch with each other. Now, though, there was something getting in the way of that easy way they’d once had with each other. It was infuriating.

He also had a sneaking suspicion that if they weren’t on the boat already, she probably would have told him to pack it up and go back home by now. He hated that. Was it possible to feel like a third wheel when there were only two people...and a wolf? 

Everything had been fine at her parents’ house. Great, in fact. He could still feel the gentle, soft feel of her lips on his cheek for that goodnight kiss, the way her hand had felt so cool and wonderful on the other side of his face as she’d leaned up to reach him. If he closed his eyes and let his mind drift, he could imagine what it would have been like if things had been different. If she’d seen him as more than just her friend. How her hand would have taken his and lead him up to her old room, how being with her would be like sinking into a soothing, calm lake. Not at all like the sex he found with random people that struck his fancy, but a connection on a much deeper level.

Honestly, at this point, it wasn’t even about the physical act. His dick could fall off tomorrow and he’d still want her. He just  _ wanted _ her, in every way. Given how stalled out he’d felt over the past year, it was probably past want. Like it or not, he was pretty sure he  _ needed _ her to be who he wanted to be. She brought out the absolute best in him in a way that he couldn’t achieve on his own.

So why the hell did he keep pushing shit? Why was he taking the risk of ruining everything? What if he went too far and she just up and walked away from him again?

He knew  _ exactly _ what would go down if that happened and there was a pain in his heart at the idea of his daughter finding him after…

The smart move would probably be to just drop it. Take things nice and slow and just pretend like they were starting over. Be on his absolute best behavior, ignore that kick he felt in his heart whenever she did something adorable or accidentally sexy, and just let their friendship bounce back naturally. Forget this stupid infatuation, or try to anyway, and stop reading too much into the things she said and did and the looks he sometimes swore she was casting his way.

She sighed in her sleep and rolled over, curling back up like a child with her hands tucked up under her cheek. The wind tossed a lock of hair across her face and Hancock couldn’t help but to reach out and tuck it back for her. A ghost of a smile appeared when his finger grazed her skin and he felt his heartbeat pick up.

No, there was no going back from this. Like it or not, he was in too deep. Regardless of how she saw him, his heart already belonged to her. Fighting it and trying to pretend otherwise was just going to eat him up from the inside out.

He had to figure out how to fix it. How to get them where he wanted them to be. Daisy had mentioned gifts. Men had used to ply women with gifts before the bombs, right? Like kids at Christmas. She’d told him about a time when her husband had pissed her off and she’d actually thrown him out of the house. How he’d shown back up in the morning with flowers and an apology and she’d forgiven...whatever it had been he’d done. There weren’t a lot of flowers to be had out here on the ocean blue, but surely he could figure out something, right?

Hancock sat up and looked around the boat. Not a whole lot to work with. Pumpkin’s eerie glowing eyes watched him in the moonlight as he quietly pawed through his pack, looking for something, anything, that might get him back in Nora’s good graces.

Towards the bottom, his fingers brushed against a stack of old world money. He usually kept some on him for wiping his ass or starting fires. It was about all it was good for anymore. He pulled off a few bills and stared at them thoughtfully. There was some memory teasing him from way back. When he’d been a kid. His ma had used this stuff for something else, too.

Hancock dug out a new box of mentats and tossed a handful in his mouth, sucking the candy coating off before chewing them thoughtfully.

It finally hit him. He used to sit with her at the kitchen table, folding the little pieces of paper into different shapes. She’d shown him how to make stars that they’d hung from the ceiling, little animal toys he would play with, even a boat.

And fucking flowers. They’d made flowers with it. A whole bouquet once. He’d been so proud of them when they were all finished and she’d set them in an old milk bottle, right on the coffee table so everyone could see them. He stared doubtfully at his hands for a minute. Could he actually remember how to do that? It had been...shit, a good thirty years since he’d done arts and crafts.

They didn’t have to be perfect, right? Nora would appreciate the effort. Ma had always said it was the thought that counted. If that were actually true, whatever he managed to create would be worth its weight in gold.

It took him more than a few tries, but he finally managed to create a recognizable flower. After the first one, the next two came easier. It was nice, actually. Using his hands for something constructive for once. He was pretty sure he’d read about warriors that did this kinda shit back in the day. To relax or some bullshit.

He found a loose piece of wire that didn’t seem to have any use and tied the flowers together with it. It wasn’t a huge bouquet or anything, but it was like a...posey? Is that what they used to be called? A posey of flowers. Something small she could keep in her pack or her pocket, like he kept her letters.

They weren’t much, but what did you get the girl who already had everything and could build whatever she wanted, right? He knew Mac had given her that wooden thing his wife had made and she’d made a special glass case for it. It lit up and everything. She’d always appreciated emotional sentiment.

He briefly wondered if she’d ever gotten around to getting rid of the original Shaun’s baby toys or if she’d hidden them away somewhere.

Hancock set the flowers next to her and put the rest of his stuff away before laying back down. The stars had shifted in the time it had taken him to create it. Dawn probably wasn’t too far off. He put his hat over his face so he’d have time to school his expression after whatever reaction she had, and tried to relax. He’d done good, he thought. It felt right to make her a present to make up for being a jackass; To make something tangible to convey how he felt. He could almost see Daisy’s approving nod. If he could just remember to stick with her advice, and ignore his baser instincts, he might actually have a shot.


	9. You Have Reached Your Destination

Hancock heard Nora wake up and knew daylight had finally broken. She always woke with the sun (and usually outshone it, in his opinion). He heard her murmur a good morning to Pumpkin and sit up, heard her open a can of water and take a drink. Then silence. She must have seen the flowers. He kept his breathing slow and even and his body relaxed, pretending to still be asleep.

There was a slight rustling sound and then his hat was being moved. A pink sky filled his vision and he squinted against it for a moment while his eyes adjusted. Nora leaned over him, her curls flying around in the breeze and catching the morning light. She looked like some kind of siren or mermaid to him...a lorelai, maybe? Didn’t they have golden hair? She waited until he’d stopped squinting before speaking.

“You’re terrible at faking being asleep, you know,” her eyes were shining and there was a hint of a smile there despite her chastising tone.

He gave her a lopsided grin, “Good morning, Sunshine.”

She brought the flowers up so he could see them in her hand. “Did you make these?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged like it was no big thing.

“I didn’t know you did origami.”

“I didn’t know it had a name.”

The smile she’d been hiding finally broke through and he felt his heartbeat jump. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

Hancock sat up and she set his hat on his head for him. He adjusted it for a minute to give himself time to run through his apology one last time in his head to make sure it was right. “I’m sorry for last night, Nora. That tour bullshit...that was way out of line. I didn’t mean to make you feel embarrassed or angry or anything. I guess my mouth just kinda ran away with me. It won’t happen again.”

She watched him for a moment, then looked back down at the flowers in her hand. “Where’d you learn how to do this?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. They’d never really talked about his early days. “Uh...my ma taught me. Back when I was a kid.”

Her head came up, “Your ma? Was she nice?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, she was nice. You’d never know it by her sons, but yeah.”

That earned him a quiet chuckle. “I’m sure she’d be proud of the man you became.”

His eyes closed and for just a moment he could still see her, standing in their little kitchen in Diamond City. She hadn’t been beautiful in the way Nora was, but her voice and hands were always soft, always kind. He remembered how she was always so happy to help with his schoolwork and so proud of how quickly he picked things up. How she’d always told him and his brother that they would grow up to be great men someday. How their home had lost all its warmth and comfort after the cancer had taken her when he was twelve and how lost the three men she’d left behind had been in the years after. He opened his eyes and smiled.

“Thanks, love. I sure hope so.”

Nora leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I know so.”

She got up then and started moving her bedroll back to the bridge for the day. Hancock watched her for a minute before getting up himself. He stretched and stared at how the sea reflected the sky for a moment before slipping his sunglasses back on.

“Damn, that thing's bright. When is someone finally gonna turn that down?” He heard her laugh at that while she changed and smiled to himself. All was forgiven. Thank god.

Their last day at sea passed quickly. They mostly played cards and discussed books and a few more details about what had been going on while they’d been apart. Hancock had talked to her about how he kept thinking it was time to pass the mayorship to Fahrenheit and she told him all about MacCready’s trip to the Capital Wasteland and how he’d carried Duncan most of the six hundred miles back north. That blew him away. Mac was an amazingly dedicated father the way she told it and he was a little envious of that. He hadn’t even known his daughter existed until she was a teenager. They got on great now, and he loved who she was, but he had often indulged in daydreaming about getting to raise a child from scratch. To be there from the jump. He already saw so much of himself in her. If they’d been together from the beginning, would she have ended up even more like her father? Or would she have rebelled and been more straitlaced than he was?

He knew Nora felt the same about Shaun. He’d come to her believing he was a ten year old, with implanted memories of them being mother and son. That had to have been difficult to navigate. He didn’t know if Shaun knew he was a synth or if that was something Nora was keeping on the downlow until he was older, but he couldn’t imagine trying to not fuck something like that up.

Shaun was staying with the MacCready’s until Nora returned, with ‘shared custody’, as she’d called it, with his Auntie Cait and Tante Curie. Mac had talked about teaching him how to hunt and Nora had given her blessing. Hancock was a little miffed to be missing out on that particular lesson, but he guessed if anyone was gonna teach a boy how to shoot, Mac was your man.

Speaking of Mac, he kept trying to get a feel for how exactly she felt about the retired merc. She talked about him the same as she did all her friends, aside from the glowing praise over his parental skills, but he had noticed the kid seemed to dominate most of her stories. Other characters came and went, but Mac was always present.

That was...okay, he guessed. He liked MacCready, even if he was a garrulous little runt. He knew he’d been married before and that they’d been happy. Mac probably knew all about how to keep a woman satisfied in ways that extended outside the bedroom. Husband material. Not like Hancock, who hadn’t even attempted an actual relationship since he was a kid.

It had never bothered him before, but it sure did now. He’d always followed the same pattern. Find a partner who seemed interesting, roll with them a little while until the fun got fucked out of it and then move on, usually parting on good terms. Occasionally he’d get someone who wanted to hang on a little longer than he liked and he’d have to give them more of a push, but most people who got involved with him knew what was up. Nobody ever really caught feelings...aside from lust. It had been more than enough until Nora had shown up and those kinds of encounters had turned hollow and frustrating for him.

He knew how to be a friend and he knew how to be a lover. He just wasn’t completely sure how to combine those two things. Daisy had given him all the advice she could, but it wasn’t like Goodneighbor was rife with blissful domestic couplings for him to observe or anything. Reading old books and watching holotapes had given him examples that seemed preposterous to him and Daisy had said things were exaggerated in that stuff anyway. It had been a long time since he’d tread on unfamiliar ground like this.

Not that he didn’t mind a challenge. This would probably be very exciting if he wasn’t terrified she would vanish from his life again. Honestly, he wasn’t even worried about getting her in the sack. Everybody reached a point where they got lonely, even women like Nora, and given the right set of circumstances, he could see them getting tangled up in some sheets together. He was worried about keeping her there after is all. Worried about what the break of dawn on that night would mean for them.

Daisy had told him to watch Nora and follow her lead. That if she were interested, she’d give him a sign. Some pre-war women had been ‘loose’ as she’d called it, but Nora had clearly been a ‘nice girl’, and he’d been warned several times that nice girls expected to be treated with utmost respect, even when being propositioned. That there were certain steps and moves he had to make, in the proper order, even, to get anywhere with a dame like that. It had sounded unbelievably complicated and ridiculous when she’d been lecturing him on it; but being with Nora and finding himself stumbling around in an arena where he usually ruled as king was definitely opening his eyes to the possibility that Daisy had been spot on with that shit.

Clearly the apology with gift had worked. He was going to have to remember to find something amazing to treat Dais with when they got home for that piece of advice. Like a whole library’s worth of books or some shit. Maybe Nora would let him sneak a few from her parents’ house to her.

The boat turned west a bit just around sunset and eventually Hancock saw land on the horizon. Maine. He whistled at how tall the trees were, some of them were even still clearly alive. It was impressive. The ocean was choppy the closer to shore they got and that got him a little green around the gills, which he’d tried to hide until he saw Nora was having the same trouble. Apparently bouncing along on the waves could make anyone seasick.

Finally, a dock came into view, the lights of the town behind it twinkling merrily. Looked picturesque as fuck to Hancock. There was a woman with white hair in a black vest coming down the dock stairs as the boat pulled up and Nora waved.

“Ahoy there, Captain Avery!”

“Ahoy, Captain McKendrick!”

Hancock raised his hat and waved it. She seemed awfully friendly for a resident of Far Harbor, given what Nicky had told him.

She waited until their boat came up to a stop, then caught the rope Nora tossed her and helped secure it to the dock.

“Been a while since we’ve seen you around these parts.” Her accent was different than the ones he’d heard in the Commonwealth. Less grating. He liked it.

Nora laughed and hopped off the boat, Pumpkin following behind and then running off to sniff and explore. “Well, I tried to retire, you know. Thought my traveling days were mostly behind me.”

The older woman smirked a bit at that, “No one useful _ever_ gets to retire. Trust me on that. Who’s your friend here?” She was eyeballing him pretty hard.

Hancock had managed to get off the boat without falling on his ass and wondered how long it would be until it felt like the ground wasn’t swaying beneath his feet. He nodded and tipped his hat a bit at her, “Mayor John Hancock of Goodneighbor, at your service.”

She looked thoughtful, “Goodneighbor? That rings a bell...think they’ve mentioned that place on the radio a few times. I’m Captain Avery. I help keep people in line around here. Nice to meetcha. Any friend of Nora’s is a friend of mine.” She held out her hand and he shook it, a little amused. People shaking hands was rare in the Wasteland. They were old-school up here for sure.

Nora was keeping an eye on Pumpkin while getting her pack on, but she gave him a quick smile that told him he’d done good by being polite to the Captain. “So what’s the word, Avery? You heard anything about where my boys went?”

Avery sighed, “‘Fraid not, Nora. I wish I could say different.” She pointed to a larger boat further up the dock with a blue star on the side of it, “That’s their boat over there. We’ve been keeping an eye on it.” She turned back to them and shook her head regretfully, “They seemed nice. Stopped in town and were polite to everybody. Talked about you to anyone who would listen.” She chuckled a little, “Seems like you were pretty busy after you left here.”

Nora blushed a bit at that and looked at her shoes for a moment. “I guess I was.”

Hancock snorted. ‘Pretty busy’ was an understatement.

“Well, they bought some supplies and headed up for Dalton. Took one of the settlers from Longfellow’s with them as a guide. We looked for ‘em to get back but it didn’t happen. Then your Minuteman who makes the run between Dalton and Echo Lake shows up and says the path is gone. Eaten up in some kinda red fog. Made him sick when he tried to get through it, so he turned back and made a beeline for here. Same as what happened with the provisioner from Longfellow’s. Used the radio to talk to your people back in the Commonwealth, Teddy got him patched up and then he went on back to Echo Lake.”

“So it’s from both sides then...are you _sure_ they said it was red? It wasn’t just a trick of the light or something?” Nora’s voice had more than just a little worry in it. Hancock remembered she’d said everything in her dream had been engulfed in black and red. He put a hand on the small of her back, just as a little reminder he was there and he felt her relax a bit at his touch.

“Nope. I asked him the same thing. We’re no strangers to fog around here, a’course, but no one had ever heard of a red one before. He said it weren’t no trick. Fog was red as blood. Said it smelled funny, too.”

Nora frowned, “Smelled funny? Like what?”

Avery shook her head, “It’s crazy, but he said it smelled like that Captain’s Blend drink.”

She looked confused, “Captain’s Blend...but the Vim Pop factory isn’t anywhere near there.”

“I know, that’s why it's crazy.”

“Hmm...alright, well, it’s too dark to get anything done now.” She looked back at Hancock. “We’ll stay in town for the night and then go see Longfellow in the morning. He might have more information for us. That sound okay?”

“Sounds good to me. So long as there’s a bar involved. Not sure how much more of this fresh air and _sunshine_ I can handle.” He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.

Avery chuckled, “City boy, huh? You’re in for an adventure then.”

Hancock gave her his best devil-may-care smile, “I fucking hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I apologize for the terrible chapter title. I completely blanked. LOL Second, yes, it's a second Parent Trap reference! McKendrick is Sharon's last name. ;)


	10. Cherries and Covert-Ops

The town of Far Harbor itself was...what was the word? Quaint? Yeah, quaint. It had weathered the apocalypse surprisingly well. Nora had said it was in large thanks to a woman everyone called ‘the Mariner’. He’d asked what her actual name was but apparently no one knew, despite her practically adopting the entire population of the town. He dug it. Gave her a certain mystique. He hadn’t even met her yet but figured he’d probably like her, too.

He’d read about towns like this from way back before the war. Places where sailors and roughnecks had congregated. Bar here was probably fucking phenomenal and Hancock was looking forward to tossing a few back with the locals; and Nora, of course. She rarely drank but when she did indulge they always had a great time.

They walked up the dock (well, Nora walked...his swagger had a bit of an extra oomph to it as he tried to convince his legs they were, in fact, back on land) and into town. The lit sign of The Last Plank beckoned and Nora pointed it out.

“We’ll be staying here tonight. Mitch rents out a couple of rooms. It’s pretty nice. No Rexford, of course, but what is?” He grinned at that. “There’s a window and you get a nice breeze from the ocean.” She paused just outside the door and pointed to an old pile of nets nearby. “Sleep, Pumpkin.” The wolf woofed softly and flopped down on the nets. Hancock swore she was asleep before Nora had even turned the door knob.

They stepped in and Hancock was immediately in love with the place. It was decked out in marine decorations and had those old fashioned kinda tiny windows in it. Charming as fuck. There was a brown haired woman wiping down the empty tables and a man in a leather jacket tending bar. Nora headed over and the man looked up.

“Well look what the cat dragged in! Captain McKendrick in the flesh!” He did an odd little jig that had Nora blushing and giggling. “You here for another dance with the devil, sweetheart? Heh.”

Hancock didn’t particularly care for his tone, but Nora didn’t seem to mind.

She smirked at the bartender, “You know me, Mitch. Always up for another two-step.”

“Ha! Almost forgot what a bad ass was supposed to sound like with you gone. Guess you’re here to chase after those babies in cowboy hats, huh? Said they belonged to you.”

Nora nodded, “Yup, just here for search and retrieval. Heading out to Longfellow’s in the morning. You got a room available, friend?”

He nodded back, “Course. It’s not like we’re the jumpin’ tourist spot we once were. Heh. Still ten caps, no discount for captains. Sorry.”

She laughed and handed him a handful of caps, “I figured.”

He stashed them under the counter, “Why not just head out tonight? Sun’s barely gone down and you’ve got a cabin over there, yeah? Not that I mind you wasting caps here or nothin’.”

“Ah...well…”, her eyes flitted over to Hancock for the first time since they’d entered the bar.

Mitch gave him a once over and sniffed like he was unimpressed. “So he belongs to you, too, huh? Another mainlander. Hmph. Looks soft to me. Well, if he ends up face down in the harbor, don’t expect me to help fish him out.”

Hancock instinctively stepped toward the bar but Nora’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“Hey, would you mind taking our stuff up to the room? I’ll order some drinks.” 

He narrowed his eyes at the asshole and then looked down at Nora. She was giving him puppy dog eyes and the ‘please just let this one go’ look and how could he say no to that? Goddammit.

“Yeah, sure, sister. Whatever mine is, make it a double.” He took her rifle and pack and she smiled at him in a way that almost made him forget about wanting to stab the bartender.

The waitress had casually made her way over while they’d been talking and she caught his eye at the bottom of the stairs and motioned for him to come over. He raised his eyebrow a bit and paused just before heading up.

She leaned in towards him in a conspiratorial kinda way, “Don’t you mind Mitch none. He runs his fool mouth more than anybody save the Lees. If you’re running with McKendrick, we all know you’re good people. He just likes showing off is all.”

“Debby! You don’t speak for me, woman!”

She glared at Mitch and raised her voice, “Somebody has to! The way you act when a new customer steps through the damn door, we’d be out of business in a week if I didn’t!” Debby gave Hancock a wink and went back to wiping tables.

He chuckled and headed up to the room. So far, every woman in Far Harbor was his kinda dame. The men could use some work though, if they were all as ‘friendly’ as Mitch.

The room was nice, if sparse. He set their stuff on the dressers and looked regretfully at the small bed. Not even a couch to sleep on. He guessed he was on the floor again tonight. His back had been hoping for something a bit softer, but he’d get over it. It wasn’t like he was going to let Nora take the floor, no matter how much she’d protest.

He opened the little window and the room immediately filled with the scent of the sea. That was pretty nice. Little breeze to get the room cooled down. There was a fan on one of the dressers, and he moved it in front of the window to help things along. That was considerate as fuck, right? Right. Nora would totally appreciate it when they finally came up. Baby steps. He tossed his coat on the bed and headed back down.

Nora was sitting at a table as far away from the bar as was possible, sipping something that looked brown and delicious. Mitch gave him a frosty look which he ignored. He nodded sociably at Debby and plopped down in the chair next to Nora, their backs to the wall. There was a cat by her feet (of course there was) and a jar of weird red things on the table.

He took a long drink off the double vodka tonic she’d ordered him and lit a cigarette, warily eyeballing the jar. “That ain’t dinner, is it?”

She smiled over her drink, “Well, it could be, but no. Debby’s got some vegetable soup in the back she’s heating up for us.”

“What the hell are they?” He tapped at the jar and watched as the things inside jiggled around in their unnaturally bright liquid. Eyeballs, maybe?

“They’re maraschino cherries. Used to be in all sorts of drinks.” She fished one out of her own glass and held it up. “Like in an old fashioned, for example.”

Hancock looked at her doubtfully, “Cherries, huh? Where’d they come from?”

Nora dropped the cherry back in her drink, “Originally? Trees. As for this particular jar, I have no idea. Mitch said a trader came through a while back, had a whole crate of them. He bought some as a kind of novelty. They taste like the real deal though.”

“You actually ate one?”

She laughed, “Yeah! They’re great! Used to be on ice cream sundaes and milkshakes, too. Haven’t you ever heard the expression ‘pretty please with a cherry on top’? These are the cherries they’re talking about.”

That...made a lot more sense than the kind of cherry he’d always assumed it had meant. He shrugged and shot down the rest of his drink. “Well, fork one over, sister. Let’s see what all the fuss is about.”

She grinned and took one of the two from her own drink. This one didn’t have a stem. “Here. I think they’re best when they’ve been soaked in whiskey.” He reached out for it but she shook her head and held it up so he could eat it right from her hand. It was probably just an innocent thing. Her being considerate and not wanting him to get his hands sticky or something. Silly to get so hot and bothered by her just being...her, but the feel of her fingertips on his lips, how she didn’t seem to mind that his tongue had flicked out for just a second and licked the whiskey from her fingers before she withdrew her hand, was definitely making those parts of his brain he’d been trying to ignore roar to life. Ideas involving her and other succulent feasts flashed through his head before he could stop them, and he was grateful that she was already turning her attention back to the little cat at her feet so he could wrestle with his...what’d Daisy call it? His lizard brain. Ha.

Debby showed up with a tray of soup just in the knick of time. Hancock was still rolling the cherry around in his mouth, trying to decide if he actually liked it or if he was just associating it with the idea of a naughty Nora. She ordered them another round and started on her soup, occasionally cooing at the kitty who was now clearly begging.

He finally chewed the damn thing and swallowed it. They were alright. Weird texture to him, but he could see the appeal. He started in on his own soup. Shit was pretty good for the middle of nowhere.

“Tink ain’t bothering you, is she?” Debby set their fresh drinks down and frowned down at the little tabby.

“No, of course not. She’s a perfect angel baby, aren’t you, sweetums?” Nora was using that sing-songy baby voice she used on all critters. Didn’t matter if it was a sweet little kitten or a Yao Guai, it got the same treatment. The strangest part was how all animals seemed to respond to it. He couldn’t imagine talking down a Deathclaw with that shit, but Codsworth swore she’d done it once and he never lied. “Debby, can I order her a little bit of fish, or is that not okay?” She turned those doe eyes on the waitress and Hancock watched her magic hook another one.

“Well...Mitch would probably have a fit, but okay. I’ll get her a sardine or somethin’.” She shook her head, gave Nora an indulgent sort of look and headed for the kitchen.

By the time she’d returned with the tiny fish on it’s own tiny saucer, they’d finished their soup. Nora was nursing her old fashioned and Hancock was trying to see how many of the little crackers that had come with the soup he could catch in his mouth in a row. Oyster crackers, Nora had called them. They were pretty good. He wondered if he could get some for the Third Rail. Debby cleared the table, but left the crackers.

Nora watched Tink neatly clean the flesh off the sardine and then start to clean her paws. She looked up in time to see Hancock catch his seventh cracker in a row and clapped for him. He hooted triumphantly and went back to his drink.

“I didn’t know you knew any bar tricks, Hancock.”

“I’m a man of many talents, sister.” He winked saucily at her and liked how her cheeks turned just a bit pink. It was probably just the alcohol, but still.

She got that gleam in her eye that usually meant a bet of some sort wasn’t far behind. “Oh, yeah? I’m pretty talented myself.”

He grinned, “I bet you are.” The flush deepened and she returned his smile shyly for a second before the mischief-maker in her peeked back out.

“Well, I bet I can do something you can’t.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it something I would actually want to do?”

She looked thoughtful for a minute. “Yes, I think it would be.”

“Alright. What is it? Lay it on me.”

“Well, back in my day, there was a trick you could do with these cherries.”

Hancock shifted in his seat, thankful for the flag across his lap. He bet there were all  _ sorts _ of tricks you could do with… “What was the trick?”

She fished the one with the stem out of her glass and held it up so he could see it. “See this stem? I’m going to tie it  _ without _ my hands. I bet you...ten caps, you can’t do it.”

He raised his eyebrow. A dexterity contest that didn’t involve hands. That was different. “I’ll take that wager, sister. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Nora smiled like she’d already won and sucked the cherry off its stem, watching him watching her, looking entirely too nonchalant and innocent to be genuine. Hancock narrowed his eyes just a little. Was this...one of her two hundred year old moves? If so, hot  _ damn. _

She swallowed her cherry, then popped the stem into her mouth. He was confused at that until a few seconds later, she opened her mouth and there, sitting pretty as you please on her pink tongue, was a tied cherry stem.

She set it on the table and smirked at him.

“Well, well. Nimble, aren't ya?” He stared at the stem and indulged for just a minute in thinking about how a tongue that nimble would feel doing other things.

Nora chuckled and pulled another cherry from the jar. “Alright, Daddy-o. Let’s see you do it.”

“Give it here, show off.” Hancock took it from her and tore the cherry off with his teeth with a growl while she giggled at him and started on her second drink. He tossed the stem in his mouth and almost immediately frowned to himself. It felt almost like a piece of plastic but also not? Fragile. Her knot had been neat and tidy. He had no idea how she’d accomplished that. He tried holding one side of it with his teeth while his tongue bent it around, but it wasn’t going very well.

She was more than halfway through her old fashioned when he finally got something that almost resembled a knot. He set it triumphantly down next to hers and accepted her applause with a little bow.

“Nice! I mean, it took you forever, but nice!”

He glared at her a little after downing his drink. “Hey, you can’t rush art, sister.”

Nora snorted, “Oh, it’s  _ art. _ Is that why it looks so weird?”

Hancock pretended to be offended, “My stem was clearly not as bendy as yours was.”

“Ooooh, blaming your equipment now?” She picked up his badly tied stem and popped it in her mouth. A few seconds later, out popped another perfect knot. She set it on the table and laughed at his expression.

He was too busy trying to wrap his mind around several new facts to remember to keep his mouth from dropping open. One, she’d put something in her mouth that had just been in his mouth. Two, she’d untied what he’d done. And three, she’d retied it with perfect precision. Oh, the things a tongue like that could do to a man like him. Sweet Jesus.

His brain finally wrestled enough blood back from his dick to be useful. “How?”

She smiled, “Well...back in the day, most girls could do things like that. We had to be pretty creative when it came to impressing boys, you know? Weren’t supposed to be  _ too _ flirty so everything had to be  _ sneaky.” _ She waggled her eyebrows at him in a comical kind of way.

“And this is sneaky flirting?”

“It’s supposed to be. You’d order a milkshake while you were out with a boy and then make a big show of eating the cherry on top and stuff.” She was blushing again and Hancock wondered how a hormonal, teenaged Nate had managed to go so slowly with a girl like she must have been. Man must have been made of stone, or suffered through a perpetual case of blue balls.

He stared at the jar of cherries, “You think ol’ Mitch would be able to get me in contact with that trader?”

She blinked at the abrupt subject change. “The one with the cherries? Probably. Why?”

“I think they’d go over big at the Third Rail,” and if a few cases just happened to get set aside for his own personal use, that’d be fine, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tink is actually the in-game name of the kitty at the bar in Far Harbor. Also, old-fashioned's are delicious & will kick your butt. ;)


	11. Wiggly Noodles

They finally headed up to their room around midnight. Nora was, as she called it ‘perfectly sloshed’ and he helped her up the stairs. He felt like he was probably just  _ mostly _ sloshed. Enough to feel pretty great but not enough to get really stupid. Maybe. She kept tripping over his feet and giggling, the sound rippling through him in a wonderful kind of way. If he could just somehow find a chem to recreate how she made him feel, he’d have his new permanent drug of choice.

Hancock managed to get her into the room and on the bed without them ending up in a pile on the floor, which he was chalking up as a miracle given her current silly wiggly noodle state. He helped her pull off her shoes and then jumped back when she started to shimmy out of her shorts.

“Whoa, there, sister, whatcha doin’?” He’d turned to give her privacy a little too quickly and staggered just a bit as the room continued to spin slowly around him.

“I can’t wear these to bed. They’re too tight. Too...too tight. Clothes are the worst.” Her words were just this side of slurred and he tried to stifle a giggle at it.

“If they’re so tight, why did you wear them all day?” He focused on setting his hat on the dresser just  _ so. _

“Cause how else is my butt supposed to get noticed, Hancock?  _ God.” _ She said it like he was an idiot. He wasn’t an idiot.

Indignation got him to turn back around. “Hey, that’s...your ass doesn’t need  _ shorts _ to get noticed.  _ I _ notice it all the time. Doesn’t matter what you wear.”

Nora was now pulling her shirt over her head. The tank top from the night before was, thankfully, under it, but it was riding up with the shirt, exposing entirely too much skin for Hancock to think straight.

“Oh, you do not, you big fibber. You don’t notice nothin’.” She finally wrestled the shirt off and pulled her tank top back down, a disgruntled kind of look on her face and her hair everywhere.

He sat on the bed and started removing his boots. “That’s...you’re so full of shit. I notice  _ all _ the things.”

She blew a raspberry at him. “You do not. You’re so dumb.”

Hancock tossed his boots and turned to glare at her, “I am  _ not _ dumb. You take that back.”

“I would, if it weren’t true.” She seemed to finally notice his coat was on the bed and she grabbed it before he could. “This is mine now.”

Ah, in his year-long idolization of her, he’d forgotten how cantankerous and sticky fingered she sometimes got when she was liquored up. “Nope, that’s mine. Give it back.”

She slipped it on and glared at him, “I’m in it, that makes it mine.”

He glared back. He knew he’d get it back in the morning, but it was the principle of the thing. “It’s  _ mine. _ I stole it fair and square. And anyway, I gotta sleep on this hardass floor. I’m not letting you steal my pillow.”

“My blanket.”

“My pillow.”

Nora frowned for a second, thoughtful, “Wait, why are you sleeping on the floor? That’s dumb. See? You’re dumb. There’s a bed right here.” She jiggled on the bed a little and he watched her breasts jiggle with it. That was pretty nice. She should do that more often.

“It’s your bed, sister. You paid for the room.” 

She waved her hand, “No, that’s...we can’t  _ both _ be dumb. Listen here, I’ll give you your coat back  _ if _ you let me use it as a pillow, too...and you have to be my blanket.”

Now he frowned, “Why do you need a blanket so fucking bad?”

“Some  _ idiot _ opened the dang window and set a fan in front of it. This is  _ Maine. _ It gets  _ cold _ up here at night.” She was hugging his coat to her like she was freezing to death.

He turned and stared at the window and fan he’d set up hours ago. Come to think of it, the room was almost comfortable for him. Probably was a little cold.

“Fine,” he sighed like it was a huge imposition. “I’ll be your damn blanket. Scootch over.”

Nora wiggled back on her knees to make room for him and waited until he was laying down before taking his coat off. She folded it carefully and leaned over him to slip it under his head, which was now right up under her breasts. He could clearly see the way her nipples were pebbled already from the cool air and how she had little goosebumps on her arms. He’d almost lost the war with himself about nipping at her skin when she leaned back and flopped down next to him, snuggling up to his warmth and sliding a hand inside his shirt with a happy sigh.

He froze while she wiggled around getting comfortable. Her fingers felt amazingly cool on his skin and she didn’t seem to mind that it was pitted and wrecked. In fact, it almost felt like she was lightly tracing the craters and lines she found on him.

Hancock did his best to remember just how much she’d drank and how much he’d had and focused on keeping his breathing under control. How she always got a little affectionate when she was tipsy. It didn’t mean anything.

Later, much later, when this night was over and things were back to normal, he could unpack this moment and how delicious it felt to be in bed with her. Right now, though, he just needed to be good old Hancock, friend and totally platonic companion.

“Hey, Hancock?”, she sounded a little sleepy now. That was probably for the best.

“Yeah, sister?”

“You said before that I could ask you stuff about um...romance and things, right?”

He felt that odd squeeze on his heart. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” There was a pause so long he’d almost thought she’d fallen asleep. “Well...I have a problem.”

There was barely any light in the room, just the one lantern was lit, but Hancock closed his eyes against it anyway. Some stuff was just better handled in the dark, even if it was pretend dark. “What’s the problem?”

“I like someone.” Her voice was small, almost too quiet to hear.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t know if he likes me back.”

He sighed, “If it’s you, he probably does...or he’s stupid.”

She giggled at that, “Well, maybe he is, I dunno...it’s just...he acts the same way around everybody, so I don’t know if he just sees us as friends or not.”

He frowned. Yeah, that sounded like MacCready. Oh, Mac, you fucking idiot. “Have you tried just asking him?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Why ‘of course not’?”

“What if he doesn’t and then everything is ruined? I love being his friend.”

“Hmm”, this problem sounded familiar. “Did you ask anyone else for advice?”

“Yeah, I asked my girlfriends, but none of it seemed helpful.” She was grumbly about it and he tried to not chuckle at her.

“Alright, let’s start there. What’d they say?”

“Well...you know what Cait said about the pants...Marcy said I should just walk up to him and tell him we were in a relationship now.”

He did laugh at that. “Shit. Explains a lot about her marriage.”

Nora giggled for a minute, “Jun doesn’t seem to mind though. Anyway, Piper demanded to know who it was, but I told her I didn’t think it wasn’t fair for her to know before the guy did. I think she figured it out anyway, though, because she started lecturing me about how I had terrible taste in men and I was just going to get my heart broken and that she knew a couple of perfectly nice men in Diamond City I could go out with.”

Hancock frowned. He knew Piper had issues with MacCready, but he didn’t realize she felt quite that vehemently about him. “What’d you say?”

“I...I told her I had excellent taste in men, thank-you-very-much, and I wasn’t interested in nice men from Diamond City.”

He smiled. That was his girl. “Yeah, fuck those DC fucks.”

She smiled against his chest, “I asked Daisy, too.”

Now  _ that _ was surprising. She must have kept those letters hidden from him. He felt a little bad now, knowing he must have put her in an awkward position with all of his questions on how to woo Nora. “Oh yeah? She’s pretty sharp. What’d she say?”

Another long pause, “Um...she said I should just be myself.”

He nodded, “I’d listen to her, sister. Daisy knows what’s up, and you’re great. If he can’t see that, then its his loss.”

“It’s my loss, too, though.” She sounded so forlorn. His heart ached for her, even while it was dying over the idea of her being with someone else.

“Got it pretty bad for the guy, huh?”

She chuckled, “You have  _ no _ idea.”

“Have you been trying to...I dunno, give him a sign that you’re interested or anything? You are a pretty intimidating kinda catch. Maybe he just doesn’t realize he has a shot.” Mac was definitely going to owe him  _ big _ for this.

“I have! I’ve been doing all kinds of stuff!”

“Like what?”

She huffed, “Like...I dunno...touching him a bunch, smiling, staring at him and letting him catch me…”

Hancock laughed, “That’s pretty subtle for the wastes, sister. You might have to get a little more uh...overt with your flirting...or just come right out and ask him.”

“I’m not good with overt stuff,” she grumbled. “I dunno...maybe it’s not meant to be. He’s...we’re pretty different. He’s so...him. And I’m over here just... _ boring. _ And, even if I got really,  _ really _ crazy brave and stuff  _ did _ happen, he’d probably just...think it was a physical thing? You know? I don’t want to just be another notch on his bedpost.”

That didn’t really sound like the Mac he knew, but maybe he’d been getting frisky now that Duncan was better. Hancock hoped he wasn’t running around banging her settlers while she sat giving him googly eyes or anything. Kid was a sniper. Surely to god he was more observant than that.

“Hey,” he tipped her face up so she could see how sincere he was. Her eyes were so dark and deep in the low light and he almost forgot what he’d wanted to say in the first place. “You’re too special to be anybody’s one night stand, alright? Even a guy as dumb as a stump would be able to see that.”

She smiled at him and he felt like his bones were melting. There was just something so calming and accepting and wonderful about her. Nora lowered her eyes and he released her chin before he did something really stupid. She snuggled back into his shirt.

“Hancock...we’re best friends, right?”

“Til the bitter end, Sunshine.”

She took a deep breath, “Have you ever thought of us being....more-than-friends?” The last part fell out almost as one word and he had to go over it a few times in his mind to make sure he’d heard her right.

Hancock stopped breathing for just a second. He felt like his heart was suddenly trying to break out of his chest. “Well, now that you mention it, I have been having slightly more impure thoughts than usual. Maybe we'll get to... act on those. Heh...” There, that sounded like he was just being him, joking around. Flippant almost...right?

Her face pressed against him harder like she wanted to hide, “John, be serious, please.”

He sighed and hoped fervently he didn’t fuck this up. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it, but...,” he shook his head. “Come on. You don’t want to wake up to this mug every morning. Never wish that on anyone I cared about.” He wanted this more than anything in the world, but if she had doubts, if he got to taste paradise only to have it taken away, he knew with absolute certainty he’d never recover.

She leaned back and narrowed her eyes at him, “John Hancock, sexy king of the zombies”, he remembered their first conversation and chuckled at that. “You really  _ are _ dumb if you can’t see how beautiful you are.” Nora took her hand out of his shirt and touched the side of his face. “I could look at you every day for the rest of my life and never tire of it.” She closed her eyes. Hancock watched the pink bloom in her cheeks as she blushed. This was probably the upper most limit of her boldness. “I decide who I’ve fallen for...and I’ve fallen for you. I...I knew it before I sent you away and I ran from it. I’m sorry. You told me you thought of me every day we were apart, right? Well...I thought of you every day, too...and...and dreamed of you every night.” Her cheeks were downright rosy at this point.

Hancock brought one of his hands up to gently brush the curls from her face. “Nora, are you sure?”

Her eyes opened. He found no doubts there. “I’m sure.”

“Wouldn’t expect that kind of lapse in judgement coming from you, but I guess that works out for me, doesn’t it? Heh. Moments like this, I know all that karma stuff is bull. Because no one like me should be this lucky.” He stared into her eyes, drinking in the love and happiness he saw there.

The that little line between her eyebrows appeared. “John?”

“Yeah, Sunshine.”

“Are you going to kiss me or aren’t you?”

He chuckled. He liked her trying to be bold. This was probably as close to ‘take your pants off’ as she was ever going to get and it was fucking adorable. “I was gettin’ there.”

Nora pouted up at him a little and he pressed his lips to hers, his laughter still rumbling in his chest.

Their first kiss was a little clumsier than he would have liked. He hadn’t spent over twenty-five years perfecting his techniques only to fumble on what had to be quite possibly the most important kiss of his life, but Nora was still a slightly silly noodle and her giggling wasn’t helping matters. He would have missed her mouth entirely if he didn’t already have a steadying hand on her face.

Still, her lips were deliciously soft and cool against his. Once he slid his hand into her hair and anchored her head a little better, he was able to resettle his lips on hers and kissed her in earnest. It was still chaste, for him, but the taste of whiskey on her breath kept him from taking it further. She’d consumed a lot of alcohol for someone her size, and he didn’t want her to wake up with regrets that could kill this new relationship before it even found its footing. And anyway, chaste or not, this one kiss was tearing through his nerves like that time he’d taken three X-cells at once. He’d feel greedy asking for more right now.

Hancock ended it before things could get away from him and watched Nora’s face for any sign of rejection or revulsion. Most smoothskins who got with ghouls did so because they were fetishists, and she’d never struck him as that type. Her eyes slowly opened to his face just a few inches from hers and he mentally braced himself just in case, but she was smiling at him like he was the handsomest man she’d ever seen and he released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding.

She was still giggling just a little, “You...you are very good at that.”

He chuckled, “Years of practice.” He lightly skimmed her lower lip with his thumb and she shivered. “These are potent, Sunshine. Think I’ve found my new favorite chem.”

Her eyes twinkled at that, “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She looked down at his shirt and tugged on it, “You should take this off.”

Oh, now there was a bad, bad idea. “Nope, I don’t think so. You’re just gonna steal it.”

The pout was back, “I am not. I just...I just want to  _ borrow _ it.”

“Borrow, huh? For what?”

Nora thought for a minute, “Well...I want to wear it. It smells like you and it’s warm like you and I want it.”

Hancock’s brain was still just a bit fuzzy, so it took him a while to weigh the pros and cons of giving her his shirt. Pros: she’d look cute as fuck in it; it would be another layer of clothes which would probably make her slightly less tempting; he just really liked the idea of her wearing his clothes for some reason. Cons: he’d then be shirtless and she’d never seen him shirtless...

Dammit.

He sat up and started unbuttoning the shirt, muttering about spoiled brats under his breath while Nora fought against gravity and finally managed to sit up, bouncing a little with excitement and reaching out with grabby hands once he’d got it off. She slipped it on and it looked ridiculous on her, the cuffs were way too long and it was practically a dress.

He was entranced enough with the adorable picture she made to forget for a moment that he was now naked from the waist up, until she practically pounced on him and they fell back against the mattress. His arms instinctively went around her and he sent up thanks to whoever was listening that she was just straddling his leg and not all of him.

She was busy lightly tracing the lines in his skin with her fingertips, staring intently like she was trying to memorize each tiny detail. He tried to not shiver under her inspection, but he couldn’t control how sensitive he was. She kept accidentally grazing spots that made his skin jump a little, the muscles twitching underneath. Every time it happened, she’d pause and watch until it stopped, then she’d move on until she found another little spot. It was maddening.

He finally couldn’t take anymore and caught her hands, “You gotta stop, love.”

Nora’s head came up, concern in her dark eyes, “Why? Does it hurt?”

Hancock chuckled, “No, no, it don’t hurt. You’re just making it  _ real _ difficult for me to remember I’m supposed to be a gentleman here.”

“Since when are  _ you _ a gentleman?” Goddamn he liked that cheeky tone on her.

He gave her a stern kind of look that had her giggling, “I have  _ always _ been a gentleman with you, missy.”

She snorted, “Says the man who just told me he always notices my butt no matter what I wear.”

“Did I say that out loud?”  
“Yes, you did.”

“Well...shit.”

Her head dropped to his chest and she laughed against him. He took the opportunity to roll them slightly so they were laying on their sides again.

“Hey, guess what,” she yawned hugely and he watched her, chuckling, before answering.

“What, Sunshine?”

“You’re beautiful, John. Like a work of art...real art. Not like your cherry stem.” She giggled and closed her eyes, snuggling against him.

He cleared his throat a little. Letting her see him cry right now would probably just confuse her. “I’m glad you think so.”

“M’hmm...hey, guess what else.”

Hancock adjusted his shirt a little so it covered her side better, “What?”

“I love you, you know. I have for a long, long time,” she sounded a half step away from sleep.

He kissed the top of her head, “I love you, too. Always have.”

Hancock felt her answering smile against his chest and then she melted against him, out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> D'aaaaaw. I love this chapter. Not a huge fan of the in-game dialogue, but oh well.


	12. Venus Rising

Morning came entirely too early for Hancock’s liking. He’d actually managed to slip off to sleep without chems; Nora’s physical presence in his arms acting as a buffer against the little annoyances of the world so he could relax. If it hadn’t been for a particularly loud radgull outside their window, he probably would have slept until she woke him for breakfast.

Despite his annoyance at being woken up so early, he was still pretty jazzed to wake up sober and know for certain that the night before had happened at all. Part of him had almost been convinced the whole thing was another hallucination of some sort, but there she was. Curled up against him, happily cuddled up in his shirt and his face buried in her hair.

Hancock’s right arm was completely numb at this point. She’d commandeered it as a pillow sometime in the night. His left, though, was wrapped around her waist and that was pretty great. Almost made up for the pins and needles he was having to deal with.

He slid his hand up a little, fingers just grazing the underside of her breast. Even through two shirts, it was enough to make her wiggle back against him, which did wonderfully bad things to his libido. He snuggled against her and kissed her neck, smiling against her when she shivered and mumbled what sounded like a very sleepy ‘good morning’.

“You see the brand on the Brahmin that stamped my head last night?” he said it right by her ear and was rewarded with another little shiver against him.

“Yeah, I think it was Smirnoff something…”, she rolled over and nuzzled against his bare chest, sending addictive little shocks through his system.

He chuckled and ran his hand through her hair. “Hey.”

Nora sighed against him, “Hmm?”

“You still sure you want to be stuck with this ugly mug?” He felt a little vulnerable putting it out there like that, but he had to be sure.

She leaned back to rub the sleep out of her eyes and then stared at him for a moment, “You aren’t ugly, John.” They stared at each other for a minute until she sighed and looked away, “Are you trying to ask if I have regrets?”

He pulled her back close against him and nodded; he didn’t trust his voice right now.

“The only regret I have is I waited so long to tell you how I felt...especially since this is probably  _ the _ worst possible place for it. The Children are going to be  _ ecstatic _ at us being in a relationship,” it came out quite grumbly against him and he had to mess with her a little.

“Think they’ll want us to fuck on an altar? I could dig that. Wouldn’t be my first time in front of a crowd.”

She burst out laughing and pushed him, not that he went anywhere, “You want an audience, it’s going to be a one-man show, mister.”

“Fine by me, so long as you have a front row seat.”

She was still giggling, but he’d caught the little shiver that went through her when he said it. He had a sneaking suspicion that deep down, Nora was capable of being a very naughty girl indeed.

“What’s on the agenda for today, love?” He was personally hoping it involved a lot of time in bed, but somehow doubted it.

Nora sighed, “We have to talk to Teddy today...and then we should head to Longfellow’s. There’s a little community there now, and my old cabin’s there with all my island stuff. It’s a lot different here than in the Commonwealth. We need different gear.”

He mimicked her sigh, “And then we’re off on another adventure.”

“Well…”, she sounded thoughtful. “Actually, I was thinking it would be nice to stay in the cabin tonight? Then we could head to Acadia tomorrow bright and early. It takes a while to get up the mountain and all.”

“Oh, yeah? Big mountain, huh?”

She smiled against him, “M’hmm. I just...I really think it would be better to stay overnight at the cabin.”

He chuckled but attempted a serious tone, “Yeah, that’s probably smart.”

Nora leaned back and he saw that mischievous twinkle in her eyes, “Yes, definitely the smart move.”

He nodded, “Gotta move slow when you’re in new territory.”

She nodded back, very serious. “Yes, definitely. Very, very slow. Gotta really take your time...could even take hours...I mean, if you really wanted to do it right.”

“Yeah...definitely something you don’t want to half-ass, right?” He grinned at her and her cheeks went all pink.

“Um...John?”

“Hmm?”

“We should probably get out of bed now.”

Hancock wrapped his arms around her and squeezed until she squirmed a little, then let her go. “Yeah...I’m ‘bout at my limit here.” He rolled off the bed and started looking for his boots. One was by the bed but he had no idea where the other one had gone.

Nora slipped past him and headed for her pack, pulling out jeans and a simple button down shirt. She’d just pulled his shirt and her old tank top over her head when he finally found the second boot under a dresser and stood, triumphantly rising the boot for her to see.

He was greeted with her standing in nothing but her panties. Even from behind it was an irresistible sight.

Before the thought had even formed in his head, Hancock was across the room, his arms wrapping around her waist. She squeaked breathlessly as his hands skated across the silky skin of her stomach before resettling on her hips. He held her there while he nibbled along her neck, enjoying how pliable she felt under his touch and the way she’d already started trembling from something so simple.

“What...what’re you doing, John?” She sounded just a little breathy, a little skittish, even as she was melting against him. He smiled against her neck.

“Told you, I was already at my limit before.” He rolled his hips against her and her gasp had him setting his teeth in her neck, just a little, while he marked her with a love bite. Her head fell to one side to give him better access and he rewarded her by bringing his hands up to cradle her breasts, the rough feel of his hands against her soft skin making her whimper.

He’d spent countless hours daydreaming of this exact moment, but the reality of it was still something he was completely unprepared for. The way her cool skin warmed under his hands, the noises she was making, and the way she was clearly as affected by him at least as much as he was effected by her. It was intoxicating.

She turned her head towards his and their lips met. Not clumsy and silly and sweet this time but full of a possessive kind of passion that Hancock wasn’t used to feeling. His tongue pushed past her lips and he plundered her mouth while his right hand slid down to gently cup her mound through her panties.

Nora jumped then, breaking away from their kiss and his hands. He’d seen first-time chem users with less dilated eyes and she was panting. Hancock frowned a little, confused. She clearly had wanted things to continue, so why stop?

“I...we’re supposed to be getting dressed.” Her arms were folded protectively across her chest and she wouldn’t meet his eyes directly.

This felt an awful lot like rejection and Hancock had to work to keep his voice casual, “Alright, sister.” He held his hands up and stepped back. “Whatever you say.” He tore his eyes away from her and started looking for his second boot for the second time. He’d dropped it somewhere, again, and found it under the bed this time.

Nora watched from under her lashes as he sat on the bed to put his boots on before she turned away and slipped on a new tank top and her jeans. She dropped to the floor to lace up her boots, still not looking directly at him.

They were both dressed and repacked in under five minutes, each moving as quickly as possible in the uncomfortable silence.

She paused before opening the door and spoke, not looking back at him.

“I’m sorry. It’s...I’ve wanted this...you, for a long time, I just…”, she took a deep breath. “I was with Nate from fourteen until we stepped into the vault, and...no one else has ever touched me like...like that.” She shook her head as though frustrated with herself. “I’m sorry, John.”

He watched the defeatist slump in her shoulders and felt like the world’s biggest asshole for not taking this into account. Of course she’d feel weird with him pawing at her. He was treading over sacred ground here. Daisy had said to go slow; Nora herself had called her speed ‘glacial’. What the fuck had he been doing?

“It’s alright, Sunshine. Guess I got carried away there. Not every day you catch a glimpse of Venus.” He put just enough of a light, teasing tone in it to let her know his feelings weren’t hurt and felt his anxiety melt away when she gave him a small smile over her shoulder.

“Venus, huh?”

“That’s the one on the seashell, right?”

She chuckled, “Right.”

“Then fuck yeah, Venus.”

Nora laughed outright and opened the door. “I have no idea what I did to deserve you, Hancock, but I’m sure glad I did it.”

He snorted and followed her down the stairs, “Hey, that’s my line.”

The bar was surprisingly full of customers for dawn. Nearly every table had people sitting and eating hearty breakfasts. They were lively and talkative and the delicious scent of coffee and fried eggs filled the air.

It was a little strange to Hancock. Back home, the only people who were in the Third Rail at dawn were people who’d passed out there the night before.

Debby was a whirlwind in an apron, refilling mugs and carting off plates. She gave them a passing smile on her way back to the kitchen and he followed Nora to a recently vacated table. Approximately thirty seconds after they sat down, Tink slunk over and curled up next to Nora’s pack after getting a thorough petting.

“What’re we having, love? You’re the expert here.” Hancock wasn’t really hungry, but he always liked to try the fare at other bars just to see how his own measured up.

“The same thing everyone else is having. They only have one breakfast.” She was giving little waves and nods to people who had begun to recognize her.

He lit a cigarette and held the smoke in his mouth long enough to erase the lingering taste of her from it. It was wonderful, but distracting as hell. “Shit, seriously?”

Nora laughed, “Well, Debby  _ is _ the sole cook and waitress. If everyone ordered whatever they wanted, she’d be swamped.”

He nodded and observed that everyone did, indeed, seem to have the same thing on their plates. Looked like some kind of eggs, a piece of buttered toast, and some kind of fried...meat?

Debby showed up with their own plates, along with two mugs and a whole pot of coffee, giving Nora a knowing smile. Hancock chortled at that. His Sunshine might not think she was that into chems, but she had a raging caffeine addiction that was clearly legendary if even the people in Far Harbor remembered it.

Nora poured their coffee and was giving her plate a kind of stare that almost had Hancock jealous. There were practically hearts in her eyes as she cut up her egg and ate the first bite with a moan and a wiggle that had him almost choking on his coffee.

“Stuff’s pretty good, huh, sister?”

_ “So _ good! You really can’t beat chicken eggs. I don’t know if it’s just because they’re one of the few things that taste the same as from before, or if it’s the protein, but they’re  _ so good. _ I wish we had radchickens in the Commonwealth.” She munched on her toast and sighed regretfully.

He shrugged, “You want chickens, we’ll get you chickens.” He took his first bite. Shit was pretty good, but not orgasmic to him. Nora must have simpler tastes than he did...or it really was the nostalgia factor that made them so tasty to her.

She blinked at him, “You’re going to get me chickens?”

“Sure. You can keep ‘em in Sanctuary. How many do you think you’ll need?”

“Um...I’m not sure. I grew up in the city, you know? I don’t really know livestock.”

Hancock nodded, “Alright, well, we’ll ask somebody. Grab ‘em before we head home.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to buy me a flock of chickens just so I can have eggs for breakfast.” Her eyes were sparkly in that way he couldn’t get enough of.

“What my baby girl wants, she gets.” He downed the rest of his coffee before lighting another cigarette. He didn’t know what the fuck that fried shit was on his plate, but he wasn’t touching it. He casually dropped it under the table and Tink pounced on it.

That pink blush bloomed in her cheeks, “Well...in that case, thank you, John.” She frowned down at her plate. “You stole my idea for getting rid of this fried angler. I think they’re supposed to be some kind of mutated frog, and I wasn’t fond of frog legs even before they were the size of cars.”

“Angler, huh? Is that the one with the glowing thing on it’s head?” Hancock remembered Nick having a particularly long rant about those.

She nodded, “Yes, they mimic a local plant to draw in prey. It’s a shame, really, because the plant is beautiful and useful, but anglers are  _ terrifying. _ They  _ leap _ at you and can cross remarkable distances in a very short amount of time. Plus, the slime...they’re amphibians, you know. They’re coated in this sticky, slimy mucus. Nick  _ hated _ them.”

He made a face at the idea of that. Things sounded gross as hell. “What’s the other ones...the ones that hang in trees?”

“Oh, those are gulpers. Some kind of salamander, maybe? They hang by their tails and drop down on people. Usually you can sneak past them pretty easily, but sometimes you don’t see them until it’s too late if the fog is too thick. They travel in...I don’t know, packs? Pods? Something. Not too dangerous one on one, but a bunch of them can overrun you pretty easily.”

“And there’s wolves, too, right?”

Nora smiled, “Well, sure, but those aren’t too bad. It’s the fog crawlers and the trappers and the angler deathclaws and the hermit crabs that you really have to watch out for.”

Hancock was starting to think maybe they should have invited a few more of Nora’s friends along for this little adventure, but smiled confidently at her anyway. “You  _ finally _ take me someplace nice.”

She snorted into her coffee at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladies love a man who buys them livestock. ;)


	13. Pumpkin

Pumpkin was still laying exactly where Nora had told her to when they emerged from the Last Plank. Hancock was kind of worried she’d stayed there the entire night, and therefore not eaten, but when Nora called her over, she dropped a leg off of...something at her feet.

“Oh,  _ who’s _ a good baby for Mama? Pumpkin is! She’s such a good baby! Brought Mama a num-num! Yes, she did!” She picked up the leg and smiled at Hancock like it wasn’t disgusting and leaking pinkish blood all over the dock. “Can you believe it? She took down a whole crawler all by herself! Or she stole it from some trappers. Either way, what a  _ good girl!” _ Nora gave the wolf an enthusiastic scratch behind her ears that had her eyes closing in bliss.

Hancock took the crawler leg from Nora since it seemed like the gentlemanly thing to do and nodded. “Yeah, she’s...she’s a good girl, alright. I’m impressed she can do more than sleep and fart.”

Nora chortled at that, “Oh, Hancock. You have no idea the things Pumpkin can do.” She gave him a devilish sort of grin that had him equal parts curious and wary. “Come on, we can sell the leg to Allen before we see Teddy. He loves these things.”

Allen turned out to be easily the surliest character Hancock had run into since that time Nora had taken him on the Prydwen. The man was just this side of disrespectful to Nora, even though she’d clearly won everyone else over, and he decided it was best if they didn’t speak. At all. Ever. Instead he settled for giving him the shark’s smile most men saw just before he shanked them and felt a little smug when the big man backed off a bit with the rude remarks.

Teddy Wright was the first man in Far Harbor that didn’t immediately set Hancock’s teeth on edge. He’d smiled and waved at Nora as she approached and even shook his hand when she introduced them. Guy was pure class.

“I’m tellin’ you, McKendrick, whatever it was your boy stumbled into, it was bad. He could barely breathe when he showed up. I honestly don’t know how he made the trip.” Teddy was looking through his files while Nora was busy making little notes in her Pipboy.

“What do you think it was, doc? Some kind of anaphylactic reaction maybe?” Her dark eyes were concerned and Hancock could sense an impending visit to wherever the fuck this particular Minuteman was so she could check on him in person.

Teddy shook his head, “I don’t think so. It was sticky, you know? He was still coated in the stuff. I scraped some off for a sample but we don’t really have the equipment to analyze it here.” He finally found the file he was looking for and pulled out a slide from it. There was a small red dot in the center of it.

Nora took it and looked at it in the light, “What on earth  _ is _ this stuff?”

“No idea. It smells like that pop. Captain’s Blend. It’s radioactive, too, but not as bad as the regular fog is. I think it coated the alveoli in his lungs so he couldn’t breathe properly. Probably wouldn’t even be lethal if it weren’t for that. You be sure you’ve got a respirator or something if you’re going anywhere near it. Goggles, too.”

She nodded, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Thanks, Teddy.” The slide disappeared into her pack. “We’re headed to Acadia tomorrow. I’ll see if Aster can make heads or tails of it.”

“Maybe we shoulda brought Curie with us, sister.” Hancock was pretty sure Curie was the smartest person...synth...bot, whatever, he’d ever encountered when it came to medical shit.

Nora smiled, “I don’t know about that. Her desire for scientific discovery often outweighs her survival instincts. Besides, you need a certain something for dealing with this island. I don’t think she’d be up to it.”

“Moxie! Gotta have that moxie!” Teddy grinned at her and she laughed.

“Exactly. Moxie.”

Hancock smirked, “Well,  _ that _ we got.”

They bought a few stims and some rad-x and radaway for Nora and headed towards the gate. There was a small woman with glasses sitting in the doorway of a workshop. She had that same hidden grimace Hancock’s mother had worn for the last year of her life and he felt a tug on his heartstrings for her.

Nora raised her hand, “Ahoy, Mariner.”

The woman smiled and it temporarily transformed her face into something beautiful. “Ahoy, Mainlander.”

She hurried over before the woman could try to get out of her chair and hugged her. Hancock and Pumpkin followed behind.

“How are you feeling?”

“Pssh. I’m fine. Teddy keeps me stocked up on Med-X. Don’t worry about it.” She looked around Nora at Hancock. “This here your man?”

He smiled at that, “Hancock. Heard a lot about you, Mariner.” He held his hand out and she shook it. The look in her eye was a little wary but not overly so.

“I bet. This one talks entirely too much.” She motioned at Nora and smirked at her grumpy expression.

“Heh. She  _ can _ be a little chatterbox. Good thing I like ‘em loud.” Nora went bright red at that and he chuckled while the Mariner rolled her eyes. She looked away from them and seemed to notice Pumpkin for the first time.

“Jesus, McKendrick. This ain’t that runt you took with you, is it?” She held out a hand towards the wolf and she padded over to get some behind the ears scratches.

Nora beamed proudly. “The very same! Isn’t she  _ gorgeous?” _

“That’s a word for it, I guess. She’s huge! What the hell have you been feeding her?”

“Oh, just the usual stuff. Dog food, deathclaw meat...the occasional raider.” She shrugged.

Hancock hid his smile at the Mariner’s expression.

“I’ve never seen an island wolf get this big.” Pumpkin was almost eye level with her sitting in her chair.

Nora nodded, “I know. She reminds me of a pre-war European wolf. They were supposed to be bigger than the ones here in North America...it’s probably got something to do with her being radioactive. Some kind of mutation maybe.”

The Mariner stared at Pumpkin’s glowing green eyes and skin. “Oh, you think?” The sarcasm this woman was capable of made Hancock smile. She’d fit right in back home.

They said their goodbyes to the Mariner, gave Captain Avery a friendly salute in passing and went out the gate. There were little wisps of fog dancing across the road and Hancock squinted down the road. About two hundred yards out, everything just faded to white. It was like being in some kind of dreamworld here.

Nora had the safety off her rifle and Pumpkin trotted just a bit ahead of her, ears up and alert. He followed after them, eyeballing their surroundings and trying to get a feel for the place. Everything was wet, was the first thing he noticed, and his boots slipped a bit on the pavement with every step. Nora’s hair seemed to be soaking it up and was curling into messy ringlets around her face. It was quiet, too. Surprisingly so for being so close to a settlement. There was just the sound of the wind in the pines and the distant sound of waves crashing.

They followed the road and Nora slowed when a shack came into view.

“This is a trapper camp. There’s almost always a group of them here, no matter how many times it gets cleared out.” She kept her footsteps quiet and he followed suit.

“Trappers are those batshit crazy raiders, right?” He kept his voice low.

“Yeah, the fog does something to them. Some kind of psychosis? It doesn’t happen to everyone. Longfellow’s been running the island for ages and he’s fine. He says it only affects the weak-minded.”

Hancock snorted softly at that. This whole place was eerie. He could see how it could eventually get into your head.

Pumpkin suddenly took off towards the shack and woofed. Nora relaxed and chuckled.

“Ah...well, now we know where that crawler came from.”

The wolf was sitting in the middle of a pile of dead men, wagging her tail with her tongue lolling out. Most had their throats or guts neatly ripped out, except for one who’d had his arm torn away from his body. There was a huge puddle of blood around them and his first thought was how on earth had Pumpkin done this without getting any on her silly ribbon.

“Damn, Sunshine.”

“I know. Isn’t she  _ wonderful?” _ Nora was cooing at Pumpkin like she wasn’t a terrifying creature of mass destruction and he just shook his head.

The ricochet of a bullet at their feet had them both jumping back, Pumpkin immediately transforming from proud puppy to snarling murder beast.

“Trapper!” She pointed to the roof of a nearby building and dove into the shack, Pumpkin followed, and Hancock turned on pure instinct and fired his shotgun.

“No!”, Nora was yelling and he immediately realized his mistake. The echo of his shotgun went on forever and the trapper yelled something about them being stupid and took off. He could hear odd skittering in the fog and then Nora was pulling his arm, telling him to run.

They took off in the opposite direction of the skittering and she lead him into a partially collapsed building, hunkering down under a window. Pumpkin had disappeared somewhere and Hancock tried to still his breathing as much as he could. There was a sickening scream and a wet tearing sound in the distance and Nora slowly peeked over the windowsill. When she didn’t immediately pop back down, he looked, too.

There, barely visible in the mist, was a massive creature. It looked like it was covered in a sharp exoskeleton and was messily eating the Trapper he’d shot at. Some kind of huge bug, maybe?

Nora slumped down against the wall and took a deep breath.

“That, my darling, is a fog crawler.” She looked at him with a slightly scoldy expression.

He slid down next to her and took his hat off just in case it was still visible in the window. “What the hell is it?”

She shrugged, “Some kind of shrimp, I think. Used to be tiny in my day. Smaller than your hand. Now they’re big, fast, armored, and unless you have fire on you, they  _ will _ eat you.”

“Shit. Sorry...it was instinct.”

Nora smiled at him, “I know. It’s a good instinct. We’ll have to trade your boomstick there for something a little more subtle, I’m afraid. Otherwise you’re going to attract all sorts of nasties to us.”

Hancock nodded, “Sounds like a plan, sister. How long are we stuck here?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Not long. It’ll eat what it can and then drag the rest...somewhere. Just a few minutes. Once the crunching sounds stop we can go. Why?”

“Cause I'm not nearly high enough to deal with this right now.” He pulled a jet canister out of his coat pocket and took a hit. The world slowed down around him and he relaxed against the wall.

“Isn’t jet a stimulant? How does it relax you like that?” She was watching him closely and he loved that. The way her eyes drew him in, how the little flecks of gold reminded him of stars, how dewy and fresh her face looked. Like watching the dawn, only without all that pesky light.

“It slows the world down, Sunshine. Makes it less overwhelming. Gives me time to process shit.”

She nodded, “Ah...that makes sense. I’ve only ever used it in combat. Like when I had to save Kent or that time with Mac and those Gunners.”

“You should try it recreationally sometime, sister. No greater feeling than when you come on jet. Shit goes on forever.” He grinned at her, waiting for that blush and she surprised him by smirking at him.

“I dunno, it would probably be pretty hard to beat coming while being high on weed.”

Oh, now  _ this _ was interesting. “Weed? Like marijuana? Ain’t that some pre-war drug?”

“Yeah, it was. Very calming. You would have liked it.”

He tried to imagine a high Nora but the idea was too opposed to the image of her he had in his head to work. “I didn’t know you ever uh...partook before the war.”

She chuckled, “I did attend college, Hancock. What do you think we did in between all the studying and sex? Mine and Nate’s favorite was a strain called ‘Purple Pantydropper’. It had a mild aphrodisiac effect.”

Immediately his head was filled with flashes of a carefree, horny, scholarly Nora and the world around him disappeared. The idea of her relaxed and loose, up for anything and so wonderfully supple was all he could focus on. He’d wished he’d known about this particular facet of her before their separation. Would have made his masturbatory fantasies next level insane.

His high was just starting to wear off when she checked out the window again and tugged his sleeve. It was safe to move on.

Hancock stared at her ass as she got up and smiled to himself. She’d been so worried he wouldn’t like the new Nora, and here he was, falling in love all over again. 

They walked in comfortable silence until they reached a causeway. Nora pointed across it. “Longfellow’s is just on the other side. It used to just be his island, but he was nice enough to let me set up a community there...and my cabin, of course. He  _ really _ values privacy and didn’t like the idea of Nick and I having to stay in the hotel in Far Harbor. Said it made people nosy.”

Hancock shrugged at that and focused on navigating the slippery stones that made up their path. Did everything on this fucking island have to be slick?

Nora watched him for a moment, “We’re going to have to change your clothes, too. You can’t go into the woods like that.”

That had him stopping and fixing a stubborn look on his face. “Clothes make the man, sister. You’re already taking my gun. Come on.”

She stopped, too, and planted her hands on her hips.  _ “You _ come on. I didn’t bring you here and confess and all just to have you slide off the side of a mountain because you want to look fancy.” Pumpkin showed up behind her and nuzzled her hand, questioning her tone. Nora sighed, “It’s fine, Pumpkin. Daddy’s just being silly. Go seek for me.” She pointed back toward the island and Pumpkin took off like a shot.

Hancock watched her go and raised an eyebrow at Nora, “Daddy, huh?” He could get into that.

Her cheeks turned just a bit pink at his tone and she frowned, “Don’t try to change the subject, bud. Those boots have to go. Longfellow probably has a pair you can borrow.”

He looked at his ancient boots. “Why? What’s wrong with ‘em?”

She threw her hands up in the air, “They’re smooth soled, Hancock! No traction!”

“They’re  _ fine. _ You said we’d be sticking to the roads. It’ll be fine.” He waved his hand at her, dismissing her concerns, and her frown deepened.

Nora stepped a little closer to him and bumped his hip from the side with hers, hard. It pushed him off balance and he scrambled to keep his feet under him on the slick rocks before he finally lost the battle and landed on his ass in the water. Hancock glared at her from under his hat. He’d killed people for a lot less than that.

“See? They’re  _ not _ fine.” She crossed her arms and returned his glare, not at all concerned about how wet  _ or _ pissed he currently was. Rude. Almost Fahrenheit levels of rudeness.

He got up and stepped close to her, “Just so you know, Sunshine, I’m gonna be taking that out on your ass later.” It came out as a growl and her cheeks went from pink to red.

There was an answering growl from behind him and he froze.

She grinned at him. “Careful with that tone, Hancock. Pumpkin might decide to take it personally.” Nora was teasing but Pumpkin was decidedly  _ not _ and he stepped back, muttering an apology to the wolf, who had brought back something for them. Nora smiled at the her, “What’d you find me, baby love?” She held out her hands and it dropped a syringe in her hands. “Oooh, Med-X. Aw. It’s a present for Daddy.” Nora tossed him the chem. “Isn’t that sweet? She likes you!”

Hancock pocketed it. “Yeah, great.” He wrapped a hand around the back of Nora’s neck and pulled her in close, lowering his voice. “Your puppy won’t always be there to save you, baby girl. Your ass is still mine.” He smirked at her shocked expression and went back to carefully picking his way across the path.

She blew past him, Pumpkin at her heels, and flashed him a sassy grin over her shoulder, “I certainly hope so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, babies! So, if you follow me on twitter, you know that Susan (my anxiety) is being a butt. I am still writing, but until she simmers down (& stops telling me my writing sucks and everybody hates it), I'm augmenting my posting. Updates will still post every Friday, but probably just one chapter per story (I have 3 currently running and was posting upwards of 12 chapters a week and that's bananas). Thanks for being awesome & understanding. I love each & every one of you. XOXO


	14. Longfellow's

The settlement at Longfellow’s wasn’t like any of Nora’s other ones that Hancock had ever seen. It was clearly divided into two parts. There were a few small cabins and a farm near the causeway, and much, much further up the path there sat a larger cabin surrounded by traps and nets and even an old boat. Hancock squinted a little in the sun and he could see another small cabin even further beyond that, almost perched right on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

A few people waved as they walked past the main settlement, and Nora called out a few friendly hellos to those she recognized. There were even kids here, the first he’d seen in Far Harbor. A girl who’s face looked about ten years too old for how small she was and a boy who followed in her shadow. His eyes never left the ground. The girl had waved and hollered at Nora before a woman had ushered both kids into what looked like a communal building. Maybe a school? Nora did love her schools.

She shook her head, smiling, as the girl argued with the woman the whole way in. “That’s Bertha and her brother, Tony. She’s a remarkable young lady. You’d like her. She reminds me a lot of Fahrenheit.”

Hancock watched the girl’s mouth never stop moving and snorted. Yeah, she seemed the type. “Think she’ll be the next Captain Avery.”

Nora’s smiled faltered for just a second, “Maybe.”

That was odd. Was she trying to lie to him about something? She never did that. Maybe this was too close to one of those secrets she kept for others. He decided to not push it.

They came around a corner and an old man came out of the large cabin, wiping his hands off with an old raggedy handkerchief. He somehow perfectly matched the scenery and even if Nora hadn’t yelled his name and taken off at the sight of him, Hancock would have known this had to be Longfellow.

He watched as she hugged the old man, who laughed and immediately started fussing at her for ‘causing a ruckus’. Nora was excitedly showing Pumpkin off to him when Hancock finally caught up with them.

The old man glared at him, “What’s he supposed to be? Some kinda pirate?”

Nora rolled her eyes, “Be nice, Longfellow. This is Hancock. He’s the deadliest man in the Commonwealth.” She said it like she firmly believed it and he felt his pride puff up.

Longfellow, however, wasn’t as impressed, and snorted. “That makes him about a half step up from Small Bertha, right?” Nora actually elbowed him for that and he laughed at her outraged expression.

Hancock took a deep breath and decided to not sweat it. Nora had mentioned Longfellow reminded her of her grandfather and she’d probably get a little miffed if he got into it with him, so he took the high road and held out his hand.

“John Hancock. Mayor of Goodneighbor.”

The older man seemed shocked at his good manners and shook his hand. “Old Longfellow.” Pleasantries over, the man lit a cigarette and glanced over at Nora, “So, what’d you bring this one for? Live bait?”

Nora was clearly trying to not laugh and Hancock just raised an eyebrow at her. She was already in enough trouble with him for that shit on the rocks. He was happy to just let her dig her own grave at this point.

“No, Longfellow. He’s coming with me to Dalton. Hancock is  _ very _ capable, you know.  _ No one _ has the kind of skills with a knife that he does.” She smiled at Hancock and he wondered if she realized everyone was going to know they were in love if she kept looking at him like that.

“Hmph. I guess we’ll see. Kinda scrawny, ain’t he?” He was looking him up and down.

“Um…”, Nora looked unsure of how to respond to that.

“I’m built where it counts, Gramps. Don’t worry about it.” He bared his teeth at Longfellow. If you squinted really hard, it probably almost looked like a smile.

Nora went bright red at that, but Longfellow just laughed and thumped Hancock on the back. Hard.

“Shit. I like this one, kiddo. If he survives the trip, bring him back and we’ll all have a drink.” He sauntered over towards a massive wrecked ship, casually tossing a wave over his shoulder.

Nora and Hancock watched him go. She finally glanced over at him and he just tilted his head at her a little. She sighed.

“Well...that’s Longfellow.”

“M’hmm.”

She looked a little nervous but pointed up the hill a bit. “That’s my cabin up there. It should have everything we need in it. It’s not much, but it’s...well, not home, but it’s a base of operations, I guess.”

Nora started walking and he followed. Pumpkin was having a grand time, dancing around the trees, running into the surf and then darting back. Longfellow threw her a piece of driftwood and she caught it in midair before bringing it back to him, tail wagging. Hancock watched the old man laugh and kneel down to pet on her and smiled. He might act like an asshole, but there was a soft core to him. No wonder Nora liked him so much.

They finally reached her cabin and she unlocked the door. It was just one room, with a bed and an old couch that sat in front of a small fireplace. There was a locker and an old steamer trunk in the corner and a door on the opposite side seemed to lead to a small porch that overlooked the ocean. The walls were pretty much all screened windows. They were shuttered from the inside and Nora flipped a latch at the center of one side and started sliding the shutters down to the end.

Hancock followed suit on the opposite side. Pretty clever, really. Longfellow must be a hell of a carpenter. A cross breeze from the ocean immediately filled the small space and Nora breathed deeply.

“There. That’s better. We’ll probably have to close them tonight, but at least it’ll air everything out.”

Oh, right. Maine. Cold nights. Hancock looked at the fireplace. “We could always get a fire going.” 

Nora crossed the floor and surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist. She snuggled against him and his arms went around her, holding her close.

“Or maybe you could keep me warm.” Her voice was muffled slightly against his coat.

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Sunshine.”

She leaned back and frowned at him, “Why?”

He frowned back, “Because...you know why, love. You ain’t ready and that’s alright. I can wait.”

“Oh...this morning…”, she shook her head. “No, I want to, John. It’s just...you startled me is all.”

“M’hmm.”

She laughed at his expression, “Really. It’s...we can just go slow.” Her eyebrow went up, “You  _ can _ do slow, right? I mean, I know it’s not your usual speed.”

Man, she just kept digging herself deeper and deeper. “Oh, I can go slow.” He was really going to enjoy torturing her later.

Nora rolled her eyes,  _ “Sure _ you can. What’s slow for you? Taking the time to actually make it all the way into the bed?”

That rankled. He knew exactly what she was referencing with that one. “Hey, first, you should knock before you go throwing open doors. Second, I didn’t have anything to do with setting the pace on that one, alright, sister? He was hopped up on psycho.”

She didn’t look convinced, “M’hmm.”

Hancock slid a hand into her hair and pulled her head back just a little, watching her eyes go wide and pulling a slight gasp from her lips. He leaned down to kiss her and chuckled when her lips parted in anticipation before he even got there. “I’m gonna go so slow you’re gonna be begging for it.”

“We’ll see,” it was just a whisper but it was still a challenge.

“Yeah, we will see.” He’d barely brushed his lips against hers when there was a bang on the door. Nora jumped and he grumbled out a string of curses.

“Captain Nora!”, the voice was high-pitched but rough. Nora slid out of his arms.

“Bertha! Come on in, honey!” She smiled an apology at Hancock and he nodded. Kids always came first with her. It was one of the things he loved about her. 

The girl poked her head in before stepping inside, her brother ghosting along behind her. Nora went over and hugged them both. The boy snuck a peek at her face quickly before staring at the ground again.

“Saw you come in. You’re here to fix whatever happened to Dalton, right?” Bertha sounded like she had every confidence in their ability to solve whatever was happening and Hancock smiled. Nora must have really impressed this kid last time she was here.

She smiled, “That’s right.”

Bertha nodded, “Yeah, I told everybody they should have just sent for you right away. You can handle whatever the island can dish out. No one ever listens to me, though, so now we’ve got a whole herd of idiots lost in the fog.”

Nora chuckled and took Tony’s hand since he’d slowly snuck over to her side while his sister was talking. “Thanks, Bertha.”

The girl shrugged and her eyes finally landed on Hancock, “What’s he supposed to be? A pirate?”

He frowned. It was almost word for word what the old man had said. Nora was laughing though.

“You have clearly been spending too much time with Longfellow, sweetie. This is Hancock, he’s...well, he’s mine.”

That surprised him and he blinked at her. The girl was nodding though.

Bertha looked him up and down, squinting, “Yeah, I can see it. I guess he’s kinda handsome...if you like pirates.”

Tony peered up at him for a second and Hancock was surprised to see there wasn’t fear or revulsion there, just wariness. For kids who’d clearly not grown up around ghouls, they were surprisingly open-minded.

He cleared his throat, “Yeah...uh, thanks, kid.” Hancock tossed his hat and coat on the couch. He’d about had enough with the pirate comments.

Bertha was giving him the same careful eye Captain Avery had fixed him with when he arrived, “I hope you’re good for more than just bleeding out. The last guy that came with Captain Nora was alright, but he sure complained a lot.”

Hancock’s eyebrows flew up at that. Nick hadn’t said anything about openly bitching while they were here. That was interesting.

Nora was giving Bertha a look, “Now, Bertha, that’s not fair. The island was really hard on Nick. All the moisture in the air made his joints ache like crazy.”

Bertha sniffed dismissively, “It makes everybody’s joints ache, but you don’t hear us crying about it.”

Hancock about laughed at that, but now Nora was giving  _ him _ the look, so he tried to keep it in but ended up having a coughing fit.

The girl shook her head, “He’s not already sick, is he?”

Nora sighed, “No, Bertha, he isn’t sick.”

There was a commotion outside. Sounded like someone stomping up along the path, muttering obscenities. Bertha’s eyes went wide for just a second.

“Crap. Come on, Tony, we gotta go!” She snatched her brother’s hand from Nora’s and they bolted out the door. A few seconds later, a bedraggled looking woman poked her head in.

“Excuse me, Captain, have you seen Bertha and Tony? They snuck out a window and took off on me.”

Nora turned those innocent eyes on her and lied without missing a beat, “No, sorry, Shelley. I haven’t seen them.”

The woman sighed, “Alright. Well, if you do, tell them to get their butts back in class.”

She smiled and nodded, the very picture of helpfulness. “Of course. It’s nice to see you again.”

Shelley nodded and waved as she went back down the path.

Hancock turned to stare at Nora. He’d never seen her actually lie to someone like that.

She noticed his stare and shrugged, “Every kid deserves to play hooky now and then, right?”

He laughed at that and pulled her back into his arms. “You...are a lot naughtier than I thought you were, sister.”

She gave him that sassy smile he loved so much, “It’s not my fault if you were too focused on my butt to notice other things about me.”

Hancock walked backwards towards the couch and tugged her along with him. “Hey, I was focused on things other than that ass, thank you very much.” He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. Her eyes went a little wide when she ended up straddling him and he knew he had to be careful. Keep things nice and light.

“Oh, yeah? What else were you focused on?” It came out a little wobbly and he smiled gently at her. She was trying so hard to be brave.

“Well…”, he pretended to think really hard for a moment. “Some of your settlers have nice asses, too.” She gave him a dirty look and he laughed at her expression. “Calm down, Sunshine, I’m just kiddin’.” He brushed his hand through her curls and smiled at her. “You really want to know what I noticed?”

She looked suspicious but nodded anyway.

“Alright, well...I noticed how you always put others first, even though what you were doing was so important. I noticed you always cried over the nurseries we found and how you collected every damn toy we came across for the kids in your settlements. I noticed how you treated everybody like they were equals, which is pretty rare nowadays.” She’d started fiddling with the buttons on his shirt and chewing her lip. He knew getting recognition for her good deeds and kind nature always made her feel awkward, especially since she never saw them as anything special. She just saw problems that needed solving and solved them.

Hancock slid his hands around and grabbed her ass, grinning as he pulled her closer. She squeaked in surprise but didn’t try to get away. “But this ass...gotta admit, I noticed it first.”

Nora giggled and the awkwardness fell away. “Well...I guess I’m glad it wasn’t the  _ only _ thing you noticed.”

He leaned up toward her and nibbled at her bottom lip. “Nah...your tits are pretty nice, too.”

“John!”

There was probably a pretty decent lecture to follow, but he captured her mouth with his and whatever she was going to say was lost.

Hancock kept a hand on her ass because he’d fantasized about it far too long to just give it up, but brought the other up to twine back into her hair. The texture of it, the way it twisted around his fingers and the way she shivered whenever he played with it was blowing his mind in ways he hadn’t known were possible without chems. He opened his mouth under hers and this time her tongue met his first. It surprised him and he felt oddly proud of her efforts to be bold.

Nora’s hands had their own agenda. One had settled on his shoulder as an anchor, but the other had somehow undone just a few buttons on his shirt and was pressed against his skin right over his heartbeat. The contact sent shivers through him and he pulled her closer until the apex of her thighs rubbed against his erect length. She moaned against his mouth and rocked her hips against him and his hands involuntarily tightened their hold on her.

He pulled her head back by her hair and she arched against him. His lips found her neck and he pressed gentle kisses against her until she ground against him, making desperate little noises, and he found himself setting his teeth into where her neck and shoulder met.

It flashed through his head before he could stop it. The rot spreading from his love bite, the fire burning through her, her eyes pitch black and his lap full of ash.

Hancock jerked back and released her so suddenly she almost fell. Her hand on his shoulder dug in a little and she blinked down at him, eyes confused and concerned. They were both panting and he closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of her breathing, of her being alive still.

“John, what’s wrong?” Her hand came up to his face and he leaned against it, a forcible reminder that she was here, this was real, she was in his arms and unharmed.

He slowly opened his eyes and found her face just a few inches from his. Her dark brown eyes were full of worry and he tried to smile reassuringly at her.

“It’s nothing, love. I’m sorry. Just...flashback.”

She sat back a little and studied his face, “A flashback?”

He nodded and hoped she wasn’t as good at reading him as Fahr was. He was never, ever going to tell her about that particular hallucination if he could help it.

Nora kissed his forehead, “Oh, honey. Are you alright?”

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head against her chest. Her heartbeat was slowly returning to it’s normal speed and he used it to convince his own to stop hammering against his ribs. Her arms went around him and her cool fingers were gently petting his scalp, so comforting and wonderful. She started humming some lullaby and he snuggled against her.

Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to get them out of here. To give this whole stupid island the finger and get her back to the relative safety of the Commonwealth. He knew he’d never convince her to go before she found out what had happened to her community here, but he wanted to. Between his hallucination, her dream and the Children’s stupid prophecy, he felt like forces beyond their control were pushing them towards something awful, maybe even something lethal.

Would this be the thing to balance out their happiness? They finally come together only to be torn apart by death? Would the universe be that fucked up? Maybe he deserved it, but surely Nora deserved a lifetime of tranquility after what she’d already been through, right?

Resolve bloomed in his mind. Whatever the fuck was trying to mess with them was going to regret it. If he had to gut every damn thing on this island to keep her alive and happy, then that’s what was going to happen.

He raised his head and she looked down at him. “You okay?”

Hancock studied her face, memorizing all the little details and the way she stared at him like he was the only man in the world. He smiled at her, “Yeah. Yeah, Sunshine. I’m okay.”

“Maybe a few less chems, huh?”

He chuckled, “Maybe.”


	15. Great Minds

After Hancock’s little incident, Nora had decided maybe they needed some fresh air. Like they hadn’t already spent more time in fresh air than he ever had in his entire life. He’d rolled his eyes and sighed at her suggestion, but let her drag him back outside anyway. She’d found them both fishing poles from Longfellow’s shed and they were sitting on the wrecked ship he’d seen when they first came in, lines in the water, enjoying the sea breeze. The light was bouncing off the water right in his eyes and he was glad he still had his sunglasses in his pocket.

“How does that not bother you?” He gestured towards the sparkling light while slipping them on and Nora shrugged.

“I dunno, it just doesn’t. We spent a lot of time on my grandfather’s boat when I was little. Maybe I’m just used to it.” She had a large piece of some kind of jerky in her hand she’d grabbed from her pack and tore off a bite. Must be lunchtime somewhere.

“The grandfather who reminds you of Longfellow?”

She smiled, “The very same. He was the one who taught me all about knots and the stars and woodlore. He used to tease Charlie and me and tell us we were part selkie.”

“What the hell’s a selkie?”

“Oh, it’s an old myth. Kind of like mermaids? They were women who took the form of seals in the water, but could walk on land as humans. They kept their seal skins as a cloak when they were in their human form, and supposedly you could keep one forever if you managed to steal it. He said our grandmother had been one, and that was why Mom had dark brown eyes and hair.” Nora jiggled her line in the water a bit, staring off at the horizon.

Hancock watched her. She was more relaxed and happier here, out in nature and close to the sea, than he could ever remember seeing her in the Commonwealth with it’s dirty city streets and dirtier coast. He remembered the way her mother had looked in that portrait in the silver satin, all sleek curves and deep, restless eyes.

He nodded, “Yeah, I think he was right. You being part selkie explains a lot, sister.”

She giggled and bumped her shoulder against his, “So you planning on stealing my coat and keeping me?”

“Nah, no need.”

“No need? I dunno, the call of the sea is pretty powerful.”

“So is the call of my dick, Sunshine.”

Nora burst out laughing at that and he grinned. He was glad that no matter what developed between them, they still had this easy, fun vibe. 

He stared at their floating bobbers in the water for a minute. “Think we’re actually going to catch anything?”

She shrugged, “Probably not, but that’s not really the point of fishing, is it?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Nope. It’s more about sitting and doing nothing while looking like you’re doing something so no one bothers you.” She gave him that mischievous smile and he chuckled.

“I went fishing with my dad when I was a kid. Down by the docks. Never caught anything though.”

She nodded, “Well, there you go. He kept taking you anyway, didn’t he?”

“Yup, right up until…”, he remembered how the grief had driven his father into a bottle he never crawled out of. Nora was watching him carefully and he cleared his throat. “Until I got too old for it.”

She frowned like she knew there was more to it than that, but she didn’t push. She never pushed with him. “You’re never too old for fishing.”

He held up his rod a little, “Clearly.”

Pumpkin bounded up to them, Longfellow trailing not far behind. “Alright, kids, enough fartin’ around.” The tall man stood with his hands on his hips like he’d caught them doing a lot more than just fishing. “We gonna go over your gameplan or what, McKendrick?”

Nora reeled in her line and hopped off the boat. “Sure. Your cabin?”

“Ayup.” He was already walking away.

She set the pole next to Hancock, “I’ll just be a minute.”

He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Hurry back, love.”

She blushed and nodded, squeezing his hand before trotting after the old man.

Hancock watched her go, enjoying how her ass bounced as she jogged along. What was that saying? ‘Hate to see you leave, but love to watch you go’? Clearly that had been invented for asses like her’s.

He sighed and stared at his bobber. This would probably be a great place to visit with Nora if there weren’t the impending threat of doom hanging over their heads. He wasn’t sure how she was able to relax so fully here, but he sure envied it.

There was a soft woof to his left and he glanced over. The wolf had stayed.

“What do you want?” Hancock held out his hand and she came over, putting her head under it. “Oh, I get it. You just want somebody to pet you.” He scratched her between the ears and her glowing eyes closed happily.

Part of him was pretty excited at the idea of petting a wild wolf like this. The kid he’d once been had read ‘The Jungle Book’ for school and had been completely sucked into the fantasy of a world where animals were mostly friendly, instead of deadly. Of course, life had quickly brought him down from that dream, but still. This was pretty amazing. He had no idea how Nora managed to tame every wasteland creature she came across, but she did.

Hancock snorted to himself and mentally added his name to the ever-growing list of wild things she’d captured the heart of. If he could go back in time and tell the cynical bastard who’d watched her square off against Finn and had thought of nothing else but getting her in the sack before the Wasteland killed her that here he’d be sitting, still waiting after almost two years to get any further than kisses with her...well, he probably would have accused himself of going soft.

Pumpkin dropped her head onto his thigh, apparently too lazy to keep it up while he kept petting her. He chuckled at that. She sure  _ seemed _ soft, but he’d seen what she’d done to the trappers. Anyone who assumed she was a harmless little puppy was in for a rude awakening. Maybe he was the same. Soft for Nora, but no one else.

Well...maybe not  _ soft _ for her. Heh.

The wolf was starting to drool all over his pants, and he pushed her off his leg. “Come on, now.” Pumpkin looked up at him sadly and he felt bad for a second, but he wasn’t letting her make it look like he’d peed his pants. Nope. “Wanna play fetch or somethin’?” Her tail started thumping against the side of the boat and he grinned at her. “Alright. Go find us a stick.” He pointed down the beach and she took off while he reeled in his line.

Hancock watched her run for a minute, mildly envious of that kind of speed and power. She fit here, just like Longfellow and Nora. Part of him was a little worried that his selfishness at wanting to come with her was going to wind up getting her hurt, but he pushed it aside as best he could. He’d die for her, and nothing in the Commonwealth had been big or bad enough to put him down yet. She was safe. He would keep her safe. No matter what. God help any asshole who tried to get in the way of that.

Pumpkin came trotting back with a piece of driftwood bigger than his arm and he started laughing. He took it from her anyway and watched as she jumped back a few paces, ready to take off. He chucked it as hard as he could into the surf and she bounced after it, woofing excitedly.

God help any asshole who tried to get in the way of Pumpkin, too.

They played fetch until his arm started to get tired. Nora still wasn’t back and there were dark clouds coming in from the north. He took off his sunglasses to get a better look at them. Blue streaks of lightning were flashing down into the sea. Not a radstorm, then, but a real storm. Huh. Those were rare in the Commonwealth.

He and Pumpkin started up the path to Longfellow’s cabin and got there just as Nora started to come out.

She blinked, surprised to see him, “Hey, Hancock. I was just coming to get you.” Pumpkin sat at her feet and whined up at her. Nora smiled, “Yeah, I know. Storm’s comin’. Go hide.” The wolf took off, stick still in her mouth.

“She can’t just stay with us?” He liked Pumpkin. Kind of felt guilty about leaving her to fend for herself against the elements.

Nora kissed his cheek, “It’s better if she learns to seek her own shelter. We won’t always be in places with nice, sturdy cabins, you know.”

He frowned a little at that. He liked them being places where he could easily protect her. The idea of being in the fog shrouded woods without any kind of defenses wasn’t the exciting prospect he’d thought it would be anymore. Something had changed.

She took his hand and lead him to her cabin. He watched her hair dance on the wind and the smell of ozone filled the air. There was a sharp, cold feel rolling off of the sea now and he saw little goosebumps appear on her arms. She turned towards him when they reached the steps and leaned up to kiss him softly.

_That’s_ what it was. It had been different when he’d thought his pining had been a one-sided affair. Now though...now they had something precious and wonderful between them. It made him happier than he’d ever been, but there was a fear deep in his heart now that she’d be torn away from him. That these few moments would be all he’d get.

He’d already had to come to terms with her not being a ghoul. He would outlive her by centuries, probably, unless he took himself out. Hancock knew that someday, white would streak through her hair and her eyes would grow dim and tired, that beautiful skin he loved so much would become slack and wrinkled thanks to time’s relentless march.

It didn’t matter. Hancock would still want her even if she was a hundred year old bat with frizzy hair and no teeth. He was almost okay with the idea of losing her to old age. The years between here and now would be full and amazing and he could relive those moments over and over, through chems or a Memory Pod, and it might be enough. The love they would share over her lifetime could carry him through to the end of his.

But the idea of trying to survive in this world after barely getting a taste of her? Unacceptable. Terrifying. It would drive him feral. She was his anchor, his heart. Without her influence, who knew what kind of monster he could grow into? If he lost her here, on this damnable island, he wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to survive long enough to get to pass the hat to Fahrenheit. His father had been a stronger man than he’d ever been, and he hadn’t been able to survive when he lost his love. How was Hancock supposed to?

He blinked and she was leaning back a bit, staring at him, concern clearly etched on her face.

“Hey, earth to space cadet? Where’d you go?” Her hand was holding his extra tight, like she was afraid of losing him, too.

He shook his head, “Nowhere important, love. Sorry.”

“Hmm…”, she narrowed her eyes a little. “I thought you were supposed to be an  _ attentive _ lover, John Hancock.”

He chuckled, “You just keep diggin’ that grave, Sunshine.” There was a big boom of thunder that accompanied his words perfectly and he grinned at her like he’d planned it.

She snorted, “Come on, we have to close the shutters before we drown.” Big, fat drops of rain had started to fall here and there and he could hear the downpour on the ocean waves coming for them.

Nora hurried into the cabin, going to the side she’d previously opened and sliding it shut. He got the other side battened down and watched as she lit a lantern. There was still a little light coming in from the two doors, but it was quickly getting dark outside. He went to the porch door and stared out at the ocean. Big, angry waves were slamming into the rocks under them and occasionally he could actually feel the spray through the screened door.

She came over and looked, too.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? The ocean, I mean. I wish it was this untouched around Boston, still. I miss this when we’re home.”

“It’s something. You sure your cabin will survive?” He swore the waves were getting bigger as they spoke.

She laughed, “Oh, sure. Longfellow said they had quite a few nor’easters last winter and it did fine. If it can survive those, it can survive anything.”

“A nor’easter? That’s one of those giant storms with snow and whatever, right?”

“Yeah...yeah, it is. How on earth do you know what a nor’easter is?”

He shrugged, “Book club.”

Nora chuckled at that and turned away from the storm. “Come on, let’s see about getting you outfitted like a real islander.”

She went to the locker and trunk in the corner and Hancock flopped on the couch next to his coat and hat. Which he was absolutely going to be wearing into the woods, no matter what Captain Cranky said about it. Shit was all lined with ballistic weave anyway. He didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

He watched her pull out a big wooden, almost medieval looking weapon. It had tiny...arrows, maybe?   


She held it up, “This is a harpoon gun. See, it’s got these little quarrels for it. I like the barbed ones, personally. It’s heavy, but quiet and it gets the job done.” He held his hands out and she tossed it to him. He caught it and hefted it a little in his hands. Wasn’t too much heavier than his shotgun she’d made for him ages ago. It would be slower though, probably.

“I dunno, Sunshine, what if we’re overrun?” What if I can’t reload fast enough to protect you, was his real question.

“Well...honestly, I’m hoping that doesn’t happen. Out here...like I said before, it’s different here. Out in the Commonwealth, I know we have a lot of fun making noise and blowing stuff up, or setting up somewhere and playing shooting gallery with mutants, but here it's all about stealth. We’ll be sticking to the roads for the most part, and most of the real nasties here tend to live further in the woods. If we can just keep things quiet, we should be able to slip in and out of places.” She turned to the locker and started pulling out clothing, plus two packs. They looked shiny in the low light. Oilskin, maybe? Waterproof packs would definitely be handy in this environment.

Hancock understood the need for stealth, but he still didn’t like it. The harpoon gun felt wrong in his hands. He had no doubt it could take down things, but he didn’t have a feel for it like he did his gun.

“So no guns at all?”

She paused in her inspection of a flannel shirt and turned to look at him. A knowing smile spread on her face, “You just aren’t going to be happy unless there’s bullets involved, huh?”

“I ain’t gonna be happy until we’re leaving this place, Sunshine.” Finally. It was out there. He knew she was doing her best to treat this like a fun vacation, but he needed her to know he was worried, too.

Nora opened her mouth as if to argue, but then shook her head and sighed. “I know. I...I don’t want to be here, either, John. I didn’t want to come here in the first place.” She smiled ruefully at him, “What I really wanted to do, was just stay with you in my parents house for a few months. Just us two, and disappear from the world.”

He smiled back, “Sounds like heaven, sister.”

“Doesn’t it, though?” She looked around the cabin. “This would be nice, too, I guess...if there weren’t a big, probably disgusting thing out there eating people or whatever it’s doing.”

“I was just thinkin’ the same thing. Great minds.”

She smiled at that. “Yeah…”, her gaze dropped to the floor, troubled. “They’re probably dead, you know. Those Minutemen and the settlers. I...If we were in the Commonwealth, I’d have hope, but here…”, she shook her head and when she looked back up at him, there were tears in her eyes. “It’s a beautiful place but it’s so brutal. Even just the regular fog takes people all the time. People who’ve grown up knowing the island and the dangers...those boys didn’t stand a chance.”

God, that look on her face was killing him. “Hey, now. It ain’t your fault. You ain’t the General anymore, right? None of that was your decision.” He got up and came over to her, arms going around her as she started to hiccup and sniffle against him. “Nora, you gotta stop taking responsibility for every damn thing that happens, alright? It’s gonna eat you alive. You’ve done enough.” Whole damn situation was pissing him off. Preston couldn’t have sent  _ anybody _ else? Somebody who still wanted to fight? No, of course not. He had to go and drag the one person in the whole damn Commonwealth who’d said they were  _ retired _ to deal with this shit. He tilted her face up to his and tried to remember how she’d probably be angry at him if he went back to the Castle and kicked Garvey’s ass into the fucking ocean, Boy Scout or not.

“Listen to me. If you don’t wanna be here or do this, then we can still go. We can still tell them all to go get fucked and just go home. Someone else can deal with this.”

She smiled sadly at him, “Who though?”

His mind scrambled around for an answer but it was slow coming. He set his forehead against hers and took a deep breath. “I dunno. Somebody. What about calling that Brotherhood asshole? He likes showing up in places he doesn’t belong and blowing shit up.”

_ “Maxson? _ With Acadia here?” She shook her head and his shook with it, “No, he’d have them all wiped out. It’s not like DiMA can hide who he is, and the whole point of Acadia is so they don’t  _ have _ to hide. Besides, I don’t want to give him another reason to come back north. He can play army all he wants, so long as they stay in the Capital Wasteland.”

Hancock had never heard that kind of condemnation in her voice before. Mac must have finally gotten around to telling her how bad it really was back in his hometown. “Alright, so not him. Gotta be somebody, sister.”

She sighed, “There really isn’t though...and I can’t just go home. People know I’m here. I can’t let them down, John.”

His arms tightened around her. He never thought he could find a trait so endearing and so irritating all at once. Her need to save everyone she could was noble but maddening. “I could kidnap you. Throw you over my shoulder and all. You could scream a bunch, make a big show of it.”

Nora giggled, “Oh, yeah, that would go great until Longfellow shot you and Pumpkin tore your face off.”

He leaned back and looked her in the eye, “Hey, I can take ‘em.”

She snuggled back against him and for a second he really was tempted to just grab her and bolt. “I know you can. Thank you, John. It’s nice to know you’d let me play hooky and not judge me for it.”

“You know me, Sunshine, I don’t judge nobody for nothin’.”

“Yeah...that’s what makes you so great.”

“That and the hat.”

She snorted, “Well, sure, what’s a man without his hat?”

“So are you letting me keep it in the woods then?”

She sighed, “Fine. But you’re changing the boots.”

He grumbled a little at that but decided it was a pretty fair compromise. His boots were a  _ little  _ slippery, after all.

“I’ve even got a special silenced shotgun you can use if you’re willing to wear different boots.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? Holding out on me, were you?”

Nora giggled, “Someone once told me I should keep my cards close.”

Sound advice he’d given her over poker and shots of tequila in the old days. He smiled at the memory and remembered the chaos that had ensued after the raiders had found them. She’d had just a little too much and giggled her whole way through that firefight. He’d been right behind her then, keeping her safe and letting her have her fun. It was so rare back then to see her actually cut loose and laugh and he’d loved every second of it. He’d even loved that she’d sat down in his seat after and clearly cheated by looking at his cards in a completely obvious manner before apologizing and moving back to her own seat. Her eyes had twinkled like she’d really pulled one over on him and he’d let her think she had, playing the part of an astonished loser to perfection just to get her to laugh some more.

The cabin suddenly lit up and a few seconds later a huge boom followed. Loud enough to rattle the floorboards beneath their feet a little. Rain started pounding on the roof and it drowned out every other sound around them. Hancock looked around at her comfortable cabin, the wind and rain blowing around outside and the low, steady light of the lantern and decided this was pretty romantic, really.

“Hey, how long do these storms usually last for, Sunshine?” Ideas were starting to form in his head.

“Oh, I don’t know. Usually a few hours, at least. Sometimes overnight?” Nora leaned back and looked at his face for a second before a shy grin started to spread across her face.

Great minds, indeed.


	16. Grant Me the Stormy Seas

Hancock was just about to lean in for a kiss when Nora slipped away from him.

“We should lock the door...just in case…”, her voice was soft and he could barely hear it over the din caused by the rain.

He watched her close the sturdy front door and lock it, adding the chain for good measure before turning around and staring at him with those dark eyes. She leaned back against it and smiled at him, waiting. Hancock grinned at her and crossed the floor. He wondered if she realized she liked being pursued or if it just felt natural for her to wait to be pounced by a predator.

She clearly thought she was about to be ravished. Her lips had parted in anticipation before he even got to her and it made his grin shift into something wolfish. He braced an arm above her head on the door and leaned into her space, not touching, just devouring her with his eyes. Even in the shadow his body threw, he could see the flush creep up her neck. The longer he stared at her, the more nervous she looked. He liked it. It was finally the  _ right _ kind of nervous.

Nora cleared her throat a little, “You...you should take a picture. It’ll last longer.”

Hancock smirked, “I just might someday.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I bet you’d make one hell of a sexy little pin-up, Sunshine.”

Her eyes widened a little and her mouth opened, but no sound came out. He chuckled at her shocked expression and slid his hand into her hair, his thumb just brushing her cheekbone. There was just the barest of trembles moving through her and her breathing had picked up a bit.

He pressed a soft kiss against her temple, “You seem a bit tense, love. Why don’t we lay down and relax a little?”

She stared up at him and nodded, “Okay…” Her voice was so small and uncertain. Hancock smiled reassuringly at her and took her hand, leading her over to the bed. She stopped suddenly and he froze, worried he’d pushed too far, but she just kicked off her sneakers and gave him a tiny smile. He smiled back and shucked off his boots; kneeling on the bed, moving backward and pulling her with him until they were both there, just a few inches between them. He studied her face for a moment. She was worrying her lip and clearly had a bad case of nerves, but she was here, trying to be brave.

“Nora, this is still your decision, alright? We won’t do anything you don’t want to do. Just say the word. It ain’t gonna hurt my feelings any, understand?” He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anyone, but he didn’t want her overwhelmed. Didn’t want her to feel like this was something they  _ had _ to do.

She didn’t say anything, just grabbed his shirt in her hands and pulled him to her for a kiss. It surprised him and for a second all he could do was grin against her mouth. Then her tongue swept against his lower lip and his head was suddenly back in the game.

His arms went around her and he pulled her closer. There was a breathless kind of squeak in the back of her throat when she felt how hard he already was and one of his hands went to undo his flag so he could grind harder against her. He wanted to hear that little noise again.

He’d just managed to get it undone when she shifted her weight and pitched them over sideways. He caught himself with one arm and suddenly found himself on top of her with a leg between hers.

So much for slow.

Hancock resettled his hand on her hip and broke off from their kiss. “I could have sworn you said you wanted to go slow, Sunshine.”

She grinned up at him, “Slow is relative, John.”

His eyebrow went up, “Relative to what?”

“How fast my heart is beating.”

He snickered at that and nibbled on her neck while his hand slid up under her shirt. She giggled and her hands flew through the buttons on his like it was nothing. He was never going to get over how she touched him; those light, refreshingly cool fingertips carefully tracing the patterns on his skin like he was a thing of beauty.

Her own skin was intoxicating to him. So velvety and sweet. The soft scent of wildflowers and soap and just her filled his senses and he wanted to rub against her until he smelled like that, too. Wanted to carry it around with him forever.

Nora pushed his shirt off his shoulders and he reluctantly pulled his hand away from her to shrug it off. The look on her face when he did was worth it though. There was lust in her eyes now, an excited flush across her cheeks. He’d seen that look on countless others, but on her it was different. More, somehow. She all but tore her own shirt off and pulled him back down to her, kissing him with a fierce sort of hunger.

His hand found her breast and she arched into his touch, moaning as his thumb brushed against her nipple. The sound shot through him and he tore his lips from hers, pressing searing kisses down her neck and along her breastbone until he caught the other pebbled peak in his mouth, tongue swirling around it and sucking gently. Her hips were restlessly moving against his now and the gentle hands on his back had claws suddenly.

“John, please…”, her voice was soft, breathless.

He smiled against her and released her breast to trail kisses further down her body. “‘Please’ what, babygirl?”

Her only answer was a pouty kind of whine in the back of her throat while she rubbed herself against his leg. It made him chuckle. He’d finally found the one place where she didn’t talk a mile a minute. Hancock nipped the sensitive skin of her stomach, his tongue tracing along the lingering marks from when she’d been pregnant. They reminded him of a sunburst and only made her more alluring. The idea of her fruitful and heavy with child provoked an odd kind of longing in him; and for the first time since his transformation, he regretted taking that hit. He’d be almost too old to father another child at this point, surely, but at least the chance would have still existed.

He finally reached the waistband of her jeans and tugged on them with his teeth, watching her face carefully for her response. When all she did was blush and nod at him, he took that as a ‘yes’ and he grinned at her as he sat back, unbuttoning her fly and whipping the jeans off her with a practiced flourish that had her giggling madly at him.

“What’s so funny?” Hancock resettled himself against her and nibbled on her neck while his hand returned to her breast, massaging it gently before rolling her nipple between his fingers.

She was breathing a little harder now, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t nerves at this point. “You...you looked like a magician just then.”

He chuckled and his hand glided down to her hip, pulling her against him while his hips ground against hers. “I’ll have to remember to say ‘abracadabra’ next time.” She was still giggling a little when his mouth caught hers and he loved how even in such an intimate moment, they could still have fun. That the awkwardness of the morning hadn’t followed them.

His tongue tangled with hers as his hand slipped from her hip to gently trace along the edge of her panties. This time, when he cupped her, she didn’t jump. Instead she pressed against his palm, grinding against him and moaning into his mouth. She was already soaking wet and Hancock indulged for just a moment, rubbing against her center with two fingers. Just enough friction to drive her crazy, but nowhere near close enough for any kind of release. The helpless little sounds she kept making were slowly but surely chipping away at his self-control and he was painfully hard at this point.

When her hands palmed him through his pants, he almost lost it then and there. He had to break off from their kiss, groaning into her neck and trying his damndest to keep it together while her hand slid further down, massaging his balls for a moment before returning to rub his cock.

They were supposed to be going slow. She’d asked him to; he’d wanted to, even. He was starting to think maybe they had very different ideas of what ‘slow’ actually meant.

Hancock shifted away from her hand and chuckled deep within his chest at her frustrated grumble. He braced himself above her, nipping at her skin here and there, moving down her body until he could nuzzle against her core, breathing in the heady scent of her arousal and mouthing her through her panties.

Nora writhed against him, her hands gripping the blanket beneath them. Hancock waited until the happy little noises she was making had just a hint of a whine to them before he rose up just enough to slip her panties off. Finally, he had her just where he’d always wanted her. Naked and exposed before him, desperate for his touch. He gently separated her folds with his thumbs, rubbing little circles and taking in how delicious she looked, glistening in the low light from the lantern.

“Damn, Sunshine. Your pussy’s just as pretty as the rest of you.” His eyes slowly skirted up her body, taking in how her breasts moved with every pant and the rosy flush that was sweeping through her. When their eyes met, he grinned devilishly at her and got a shy smile in return. He finally decided, to heck with going slow. They’d already waited a ridiculous amount of time to be together. He’d been dying for a taste of her going on two years now.

Hancock settled between her legs and pressed a slow, ardent kiss against her core, his tongue diving deep and lapping at her juices. His mind struggled to find the right words to describe how she tasted but the only thing that came was ‘golden’. Warm, nectarous and wonderfully satisfying. He heard her cry out softly and she bucked against him. His hands moved up to her hips steady her and hers found his head, pulling him closer and lightly scoring his scalp with her nails. He groaned against her as his body shuddered at all the different sensations.

He couldn’t get over how cool her skin still felt under his hands, even as the center of her was blazing. His lips found her clit and he kissed it lightly before running the flat of his tongue over it, watching her with dark eyes as she shivered and softly whimpered. A few practiced flicks had her writhing against him and he gripped her hip a little harder with one hand while he brought the other down to explore her more thoroughly. He eased one finger deep within her, drawing a surprised gasp from her lips.

He paused for a moment, letting her get used to the feel of him while he languidly massaged her clit with his tongue. She was melting around him, her scent going from warm and excited to hot and aroused. Hancock slowly pumped his finger in and out of her while gently pressing against her walls, opening her further until she could accept more.

Nora moaned as he carefully added a second finger to his exploration. Her juices were flowing freely now and he was able to easily turn his hand upward, quickly finding that place within her that would drive her wild and pressing his fingers against it. She pulled him closer with a desperate sort of whine when he did and he chuckled against her.

“You like that, huh, babygirl?” His tongue swirled around her clit and he saw her thighs were starting to quiver from the corner of his eye.

“Oh, God, John. Please...please don’t stop.” There was an aching, desperate note in her voice that made his cock swell.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, love.” Hancock settled his mouth back against her, drawing her clit between his lips with soft suction and brushing it with barely-there flicks of his tongue. She was trembling under him now, right on the edge of ecstacy. One of her hands left his head and grasped the hand he still had on her hip. He released her from his hold and threaded his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand reassuringly in silent encouragement.

He felt the tension build within her, heard the stutter in her breath as her body readied itself for release. His hand kept working her pussy, increasing the pressure on her clit by tiny increments until she finally crested, arching off the bed and crying out in surprised bliss. She clamped down on his fingers, undulating around them like waves on the ocean and he waited until they began to slow before finally releasing her with a final delicate kiss.

Nora tugged on his hand and he moved back up her body, studying her face for any sign of dissatisfaction, no matter how small.

She smiled at him, cheeks glowing and radiating happiness. She was watching him, too, but there was nothing in her eyes but love and hunger there. He felt the last little knot of uncertainty relax within him and returned her smile before kissing her, pouring all of his heart into it. She responded in kind, greedily devouring his lips and running her hands up along his back, lightly scoring him with her nails.

Hancock moaned as her touch caused a cascade of sensations to surge through him. It was overwhelming and he was barely able to command his shaking hand to undo his pants, shucking them off with far less grace than he typically did. Then he was right there, the head of his cock resting against the opening of her lush, slick pussy. He slowly rocked his hips against hers, enjoying how her folds naturally separated for him as they moved together. Then her leg unexpectedly hooked around his and pushed him forward.

He delved into her and grunted at the tight, hot pressure. She broke off from their kiss and buried her face against his neck, biting softly and whimpering as he filled her. He could feel her shivering as her body adjusted to his girth and he wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her close and still, despite his own desire to increase the friction between them. Self-control had never really been an issue for him before this particular moment, and he was panting with the effort to hold himself back.

“You alright, Sunshine?” He could clearly feel her teeth in his neck, the way her tongue moved against him like she found him delicious.

She released him and wound her arms around his neck, trailing little kisses along his jaw until she could nuzzle against his ear. “I’m alright, John. I love you.” Her voice was soft, breathless and he could barely hear her over the sound of the storm outside.

He’d had partners say ‘I love you’ to him before, of course. Some people just couldn’t seem to help themselves and said all sorts of meaningless platitudes during sex. He’d never heard someone say it and  _ mean _ it though. Hancock was thunderstruck by the entire concept. The depth of meaning she was able to give to three small words was breathtaking. It burned through him and he knew he’d never get enough of her saying it, meaning it, loving him.

“I love you, Nora.” It came out quieter than he’d expected but the way she her arms tightened around him, he knew she’d heard it and everything that was behind it, too. Her hips rocked up towards him just a bit and he moved with her; slow, shallow thrusts that became deeper the more accommodating her body grew.

Hancock was finally able to slip his arm away from her waist and braced his weight off of her while he moved against her, sliding nearly all the way out each time before pressing deep with an expert roll of his hips that ground against her clit. Nora clung to him, whimpering softly at each thrust. There was a sweet pressure building up within her again and he felt a desperate need to see it happen this time.

He waited until he was sure she was on the verge of climax and then rolled suddenly, his hands immediately going to her hips to guide her in the same deep rhythm and she raised up over him, their eyes meeting for just a moment before she peaked, pulsing around him with her head thrown back and a strangled sort of cry coming from her. Hancock watched her, feeling this singular moment searing into his soul. This was it. His new reason for being.

Nora collapsed against him, panting, and his arms went around her, carefully soothing while her body continued to shudder and throb around him.

She nuzzled against his neck, “John, come inside me, please. I need it.” There was a sweet, delicious kind of anticipation in her voice and it pushed him right to the edge of his control.

“I know you do, babygirl.” One of his hands twined into her hair and another slipped back down to her hip, pushing her down on his length as he lifted his hips and buried his cock deeper within her. He soaked up the way she whimpered as he filled her completely before he began thrusting, powerful and steady. She nestled into him, moaning softly and pressing soft kisses against his neck. Hancock had to close his eyes to keep from being completely overwhelmed by the new sensations and new emotions swirling through him. He heard her murmur something but it was drowned out by a rumble of thunder. He nipped her shoulder a little and smiled when she shivered. “What was that, Sunshine?”

He could feel her lips curve into a smile and she turned her head a little, her lips right by his ear as she whispered, “Harder.”

That was it. The last tether he’d had on himself snapped. He abruptly rolled them again, smiling wickedly at her delighted laughter as he anchored himself with a hand on her shoulder before he began to pound into her, relishing the way she mirrored his movements and the almost ravenous way she clawed at his back.

She was soaking wet, hot and still softly surging around him and he let the feel of her sweep him away. He felt that exquisite, feverish heat flood his senses and he came with a growl, burrowing as deep as he could and burying his face against her hair while she gasped and shuddered at the feel of him pumping into her.

“It’s  _ hot,” _ she sounded so surprised as she shivered under him and he chuckled.

“Of course it’s hot, love. I’m a ghoul.” He was still shaking a little but managed to drop a kiss on the tip of her nose while he lingeringly moved against her.

She smiled up at him, “Is it always like that?”

Hancock shrugged, “Yeah, it’s always hot.” He decided each of her freckles deserved a kiss of its own and started with the ones on her left cheek.

Nora giggled, “No, I mean...is  _ it _ always like  _ that?” _

He paused and stared at her for a minute before he got what she was asking.  _ “Oh _ ...no. It’s  _ never _ been like that, Sunshine, but I have a feeling it’s gonna be from now on.” He kissed her softly, “Is that okay?”

Her eyes sparkled in the low light, “Yeah, that’s...that’s pretty okay. It was...intense.”

His eyebrow went up, “Intense?”

She shrugged a little, “It’s the only word my brain is giving me right now.”

That had him chortling a little. Hancock moved off of her and pulled her into his arms. There was the barest sheen of sweat on her skin and he loved how it felt against his skin. She snuggled against him and sighed contentedly.

“Intense and amazing. That’s a good word.”

“It damn well better be. I’ve only been thinking about it for two years now. Shit.”

Nora giggled at that, “Seriously? Since day one, huh?”

Hancock tucked the blanket around her. He certainly didn’t need it but he didn’t want her to catch a chill. “Yup. Day one.”

She shook her head, “I had no idea.”

He shrugged, “I know. You weren’t lookin’ for that kinda thing anyway back then and uh... _ admiring _ you from afar was alright.”

“Oh, ‘admiring’. Okay.” He could hear the eye roll in her voice and tickled her side a little in retaliation.

“Yeah,  _ admiring _ you. It wasn’t just about that ass, you know. You’re beautiful, fierce, smart, an unstoppable force for good...completely out of my league but I was happy to just tag along.”

She raised her head up enough to fix him with a glare of sorts, “John Hancock,  _ no one _ is out of your league.”

He smiled at her, “Apparently.”

She gave him a half smile and laid her head back on his chest. “What changed?”

“I dunno...one day I just found myself staring at you and it finally dawned on me that being with you was my raison d'être. It just felt right and everything else felt wrong.”

Nora sighed happily, “That’s beautiful.”

He waited for her to say more but she didn’t and he huffed a little. “Well? What about you?”

She jumped a little like she was startled, “Oh...sorry. I’m still a little floaty.” He ruffled her hair and smiled a little at that. “I guess...the first time I felt anything was when you gave that speech. The one about fighting against the Institute and how important it was to stick together.”

He thought for a moment, “Hey, that was...what, your second day in Goodneighbor?”

“Yup. I remember staring up at you and feeling this little flutter in my heart...but I just, you know, thought it was a crush or maybe you were just  _ that good _ of an orator.”

“Hmmm...so, what changed for you?”

“I...I got jealous.”

Hancock blinked at that. “Jealous, babygirl? Of who?”

She shook her head, “It’s stupid, but...everyone.”

“Everyone? I haven’t fucked  _ everyone, _ love. Give me a little credit here.” He wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or flattered.

Nora snorted and giggled though, “No, not like that. I was jealous of everyone who got to just spend time with you. I  _ hated _ every time I sent you home to Goodneighbor, even though I knew you had to go. I mean, you  _ are _ their mayor and all. I couldn’t just keep you in my pocket forever.”

His arms tightened around her, “Fuck ‘em. You can keep me anywhere you want.”

She shook her head, “No…‘of the people, for the people’, remember? You have a responsibility to your people just like I do to mine.”

He grumbled a little, “So what happens when we go home? You go back to Sanctuary and I go back to Goodneighbor and the letters start again?” It came out a lot more bitter than he’d wanted it to but dammit, he hated the idea of them being apart anymore.

Her head shook again, more vehemently this time.  _ “No. _ Absolutely not. I can’t...I can’t take that again.” She burrowed further into his embrace and he wondered for a moment if maybe that year apart had actually been harder on her than him.

His hand slipped into her hair and he rubbed her head soothingly, “Alright, Sunshine. It’s alright. We’ll work it out, and we’ll do it together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a long time to craft this chapter because Hancock smut is surprisingly intimidating to write. Sorry, bbs. XOXO

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, another Green Day title. ;)


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